White House Race- May 18, 2024

The Debates of 2024?

Lord help us all. This became a big and fairly unexpected story this week. Put me down in the camp of "I will believe it when I see it."

In the past, I had speculated that I did not think Trump and Biden would even debate this year. I know they debated in Cleveland in 2020, when we now know that Trump showed up with Covid, but I swear, I have no virtually no memory of a second debate held in Nashville. I know I would have seen it and written about it, but I seem to be blocking the whole thing out from my memory.

A long time ago, the RNC and associated Trump campaign rejected the premise of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has been running these shows since the 1988 cycle. This week, the Biden campaign came forward and said they also were stepping away from the Commission and were proposing two Presidential debates to be run by television networks.

This all raises a lot more questions than answers. As a political traditionalist, I do not exactly like the idea of such a radical departure when it comes to debates. These are very unusual political times we live in. I had thought the President's reelection campaign would avoid debates, at least for as long as possible, while Trump goaded him on. Clearly though, despite all their public and behind closed doors swagger at fundraiser, the Biden campaign knows they are in serious trouble in this election, and the perception of dodging debates, while Trump goads them and calls Biden senile, is not something they wanted to deal with for months.

In that sense alone, this development has to be considered a "win" for Biden. They have said there will be no negotiations, and since Trump has accepted the two debates, the onus is on him to actually show up. This is a big open question. Will Trump actually agree to the CNN and ABC employed moderators for the two debates? Will he go along for the plan to have no audience in attendance (a first since 1960), and what about his ridiculous demand that Biden submit to a drug test? What about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who insists he should qualify for the debates, and may very well have been allowed to participate by the CPD? Both major parties seem to not want him on any stage, and Kennedy will complain fiercely about his exclusion. Will Trump demand he be allowed to take place as a condition?

Democrats have serious reasons to be concerned about just how Biden will perform during a debate, but at least they have dodged the debate over debates as an issue, maybe just for one month. On June 27, in August, CNN is now scheduled to host the first debate. This is ridiculously early, and certainly well before any concerns about "early voting" being affected by a lack of debates. Needless to say, this is before the conventions, and before the nominees are selected. If somebody were to "bomb" in this debate though, there will be ample time for there to be other campaign developments before a second scheduled debate on September 10. That is also a pretty early date, and will not be the last topic of conversation before Election Day in November. It seems like the Biden campaign is gambling on low expectations working to their advantage in June and them being able to put the age issue to bed early in the summer. This is a huge gamble. Trump will continue to call for more debates, but he will have to at least show up to the ones his campaign agreed to this week after taunting "any place any time" for months now. Democrats are also hoping that Trump will do or say something during the June debate to remind Americans just how loathsome the former President is.

A Vice Presidential debate has also been proposed and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to a date as early as July. This would be right after the Republican convention and might raise questions of fairness considering Trump's newest runningmate/lackey will not have much time to prepare.

 

Who will the Trump runningmate be? Well, a lot of ambitious Republicans seem to be auditioning and many of them have been showing up at a Manhattan courtroom, oddly all dressed alike in Trump's favorite red tie. They are trying to get on his good side by making fawning statements and attacking the legal cases against him. It is likely that Trump might be directing them on what sorts of things to say. That is a pretty unique way of trying to get around the gag order. As for the trial this week, there were no major fireworks, although it was widely commented that Trump's attorneys did a good job in attacking the credibility of Michael Cohen and perhaps exposing him in a lie. Cohen will be returning to the witness stand this week. The trial will probably be over by the time of this first debate in June.

Nobody really expected the Biden campaign to make this public push though this week and how quickly it all came down on Wednesday with CNN and ABC apparently beating out the other networks for the rights. Will these debates air exclusively on those outlets or will they be simulcast on NBC, CBS, et al, per tradition? Primary debates are not. Who really knows what will happen here.

This got a lot of coverage on Wednesday because the Biden campaign released a video on a morning where the Trump trial was not taking place in New York City. Biden even goaded Trump by saying. "I hear you are free on Wednesdays." Both men acted as if they were professional wrestlers doing shoot promos, although the language was a bit pop culture dated. Biden dared Trump to "make my day" while Trump countered with "let's get ready to rumble." Is any of this good for democracy or dare I say, the children? Probably not. This whole campaign and potential debates could wind up being very ugly. Senator Mitt Romney compared what we might see to the two elderly Muppets who would argue in the balcony.

A more modern professional wrestling angle might be a women's tag team match between Congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene and Anna Paulina Luna in red versus Congresswomen Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in blue. There was a wild Congressional committee meeting late at night, after some Republicans returned from their visit to Trump's porn trial. Tempers flared and it seemed like a Real Housewives Reunion more than a branch of government. For all the gains women have made in politics and elective office, this might have set things back a bit.

Greene first insulted Crockett by saying that her fake eyelashes were messing with her vision. AOC then got very upset and demanded the words be taken down. She exchanged words with MTG and implored her "baby girl,,, don't play." The loony Luna then got involved in the fray as the debate raged in a partisan sense over whether Green's words should be taken down. (Interestingly enough, Lauren Boebert, alleged to be the illegitimate daughter of a professional wrestler herself, sided against her right wing colleague and personal rival and voted with Democrats to take the words down.) The African-American Crockett is saying that Greene's eyelashes insult was racist, first got in the dig that Green had a "bleached blond badly built butch body." This would be the portion of the Jerry Springer show where shoves might be exchanged and security guards on stage while the crowd chanted "Jerry Jerry." However, this is our Congress at work. I will admit to sort of liking Crockett's insult though.

 

Trump probably loved the whole thing too. He definitely is well versed with the WWF/WWE and pretty much created a public image over 30 years ago as some sort of professional wrestling CEO villain in the style of the now disgraced Vince McMahon. Somehow he became President and might become one again, The political culture is emulating his style, as seen by Biden's debate challenges, and the multiple Congresswomen ready to throw down and perhaps snatch some weaves.