Now, Donald Trump says he wants to debate Biden “immediately.” So I asked my Post Opinions colleagues David Von Drehle and his colleague James Hohmann: Is it dangerous for Biden to take on Trump’s challenge?
Alexi McCammond: Everyone, please tell me straight.Should President Biden debate Donald Trump? Some Democrats have already criticize the news media For exaggerating Trump’s challenge and spinning something that could make Biden perform worse if he did. do I end up doing it.
David von Drehle: There is no reason for Mr. Biden to debate Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has shown his disdain for debates by refusing to confront his Republican rivals. In 2020, he again showed a lack of respect for agreed rules. He is a shameless clown and Biden should not give him a debate.
James Homan: Biden should call out Trump’s bluff. The former president said he was ready to debate the current president “immediately” and “for the good of the country.” Challenge him to go mano mano.
Alexi: And what if Trump says, “Okay, let’s do it, grandpa?” Should Biden take a stand?
James: Biden needs to take a page from Harry Truman’s 1948 strategy. Give them hell, Joe. Come fight like you did against Paul Ryan in 2012.
Alexi: LOL that Biden is taking notes from 1948 😭. He’s old now, James!
James: Trump is also old. Recall that he showed up to the first debate of 2020 infected with the coronavirus and lied about it.
David: There’s nothing either of these men should say that hasn’t been said a thousand times. The two have been in constant conversation for nearly 160 years. They are two of the most talkative people in American history. Please let me go.
James: If Biden declines to debate, it would give President Trump plenty of fodder to attack as a scaredy cat, and an opportunity to shield President Trump from answering tough questions about his plans and record. will give.
Alexi: But Trump is very unscrupulous and even more unstable than before. Don’t you think it will be difficult for Biden to compete against Trump now that he is older?
James: Trump is leading in important polls. If the election were today, he would win. Biden must change the trajectory of his campaign.
David: Mr. Biden’s best shot at changing course (aside from dropping out) is to campaign, not stand on stage with Mr. Trump on an excruciating two-hour rant.
James: that It might be worth mixing up the formats. I feel tired of the old way of arguing. Maybe there’s something like a tag team. Biden was joined on stage by Jake Sullivan to help with foreign policy and Neera Tanden to help with domestic policy. And Trump could be replaced by Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. This might make it even more interesting.
Alexi: I love this creativity, James. I also wish moderators from different networks could participate together.
David: It doesn’t matter what rules you have. Trump will ignore them. I’m Stephen “C. Montgomery Burns Miller inside the UFC cage.
Alexi: I’m cooking with gas now. This would be fascinating. DVD, are you a UFC guy?
James: I like NASCAR more than UFC. I think Biden would beat Trump if you put him in a car on the freeway. Maybe I’ll do it in a swing state.
Alexi: Will voters benefit from watching just one debate? One of the girlfriends of the Prompt 2024 readers emailed me and said she would show people if either of them declined. Since they last discussed in 2020.
James: I think it’s important that multiple discussions take place. Presidents typically underperform the first time around, including Barack Obama in 2012. Therefore, you should make sure that at least two of his are in the books before you do your first one.
David: Oh my God, James! two? ? If that happens, I blame you. It has to be resolved in a cage.
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In preparation for this newsletter, I rewatched the 2020 Trump vs. Biden debate moderated by Chris Wallace and can confirm that Biden should not do it again. His neck hurt from shaking his head so much.
It is worth revisiting the commentary from the time. The New York Times captured it well with this headline: “With jockeying, lies and mockery, Trump tramples on decorum in debate with Biden.” In her essay for NBC News, Eileen Prasher wrote that letting her 10- and 8-year-olds watch a debate is not “the same as taking them to a bloody boxing match.” I wondered.
Still, skipping the debate with Trump — which, to be clear, was not something the Biden campaign proposed — is consistent with the Biden campaign’s selective media strategy so far. right. Biden has given fewer interviews than his two predecessors, and recently came under fire for skipping a Super Bowl interview for the second year in a row.
This has led to criticism that Biden fears he will face increased scrutiny. Matthew Yglesias advocates for debates in a Bloomberg column and worries that his candidates don’t seem to care about this. As he says, it’s only in a world where people care about what the mainstream media says that people consider not participating in the discussion a “bad impression.” …If modern presidents want their people to hear their opinions, they can tweet, vlog, TikTok, or whatever else they want, instead of throwing harsh words to try to trip up reporters. ”
It is also true that discussion serves a useful purpose. Kathleen Hall Jamison passionately defended them in her 2012 Post op-ed, arguing: Debate and other television presentations can help explain more complex topics honestly. ”
Still, I’m not convinced that another Trump-Biden debate is worth it. When Mr. Trump takes the stage, anxious voters are less likely to expect an “honest” explanation of anything.
On the r/BlackPeopleTwitter subreddit, a user posted about the claim that Trump’s mug shot appeals to black voters. “You know who accepted it more than anyone else?” Trump said. “The black population.”
This response was particularly insightful. “The sad reality is, I’ve met some Black people who would rather have Biden than Biden because ‘they’re prosecuting him.’ Even though you believe he did something wrong (i.e. broke the law at some point), you still stand by him because you think he should get away with it. But the people I know generally live by an illegal hustle culture or a cheater culture. ”
- Don’t blame Biden’s dog for the blood on the White House floor. Jill Abramson writes for Post Opinions. Weft.
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- Republicans are losing the health care battle: Jordan Zakarin writes about what’s really happening in states like Oregon, Virginia, and Kansas. Read his progress report in the Substack Newsletter.