Trump accepts being silenced in live debate
President will take part in final television face-off with Biden despite ‘mute button’ and ‘biased’ host
Donald Trump has confirmed he will take part in the final live television presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden tomorrow night despite organisers announcing that microphones will be muted at certain points. Mr Trump had said previously he would not allow debate rules to be changed after the chaotic first clash, when he had repeatedly interrupted Mr Biden, but despite complaining, has backed down. Mr Trump said: “I’ll participate, I just think it’s very unfair.”
‘I will participate, I just think it’s very unfair’
DONALD TRUMP has confirmed his attendance at the final presidential debate tomorrow night despite organisers announcing that microphones will be muted at certain points, setting up the biggest remaining event of the election campaign.
The US president had said previously he would not allow debate rules to be changed after the chaotic first clash, when he had repeatedly interrupted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, but despite complaining he has backed down. On Monday, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that for each debate topic when a candidate gets two minutes to outline their position the other politician’s microphone will be off, meaning initial statements can be made uninterrupted.
However, it also said it would not be giving the moderator for tomorrow’s debate in Nashville, Tennessee, the right to cut off a candidate’s microphone during the debating that follows opening statements on each topic.
That raised the prospect of the change having a limited impact on the quality of discussion, widely panned after the hostile exchanges and personal insults of the first debate in Cleveland, as much of the interrupting happened in those periods.
Explaining its stance when announcing the change, the commission said on Monday: “It is appropriate to adopt measures intended to promote adherence to agreed upon rules and inappropriate to make changes to those rules.”
Mr Trump had refused to take part in the second presidential debate, which had been scheduled for two weeks ago, after the commission made the event virtual rather than in-person in the wake of his Covid-19 diagnosis.
The Trump campaign moved fast to end speculation of pulling out when the microphone muting decision was announced, issuing a statement saying the president was “committed” to taking part despite the change. Mr Trump himself said on Monday night: “I’ll participate, I just think it’s very unfair.”
The president, in a Fox News interview yesterday, heavily criticised the commission but again did not float the prospect of not showing up. “Well I think the whole thing is crazy,” Mr Trump said when asked about the format change. The president claimed the commission was attempting to help Mr Biden, with “a stacked deck”.
He also claimed the moderator for the debate, NBC News’s Kristen Welker, was “totally partisan” against him.
Mr Trump hinted he could adopt a changed approach, saying provocatively that some had suggested he allowed Mr Biden to talk so the Democrat would lose his train of thought and appear “gonzo”.
With less than fortnight to go to election day, the debate offers Mr Trump a late opportunity to change the dynamics of the race. The president is trailing in opinion polls both of the nation as a whole and in most key battleground states, though he has insisted he has his own internal polls showing otherwise.
Pundits have cautioned against calling the race before it is over, given that Mr Trump managed to turn an apparent poll deficit to Hillary Clinton in 2016 into a victory on election day.
The president is widely expected to attack Mr Biden again over his son Hunter and the business work he did with an energy company in Ukraine while his father was US vice-president.
The Trump campaign has continued to push hard on the laptop reportedly belonging to Hunter passed on to The New York Post which contained details of his work and came to light last week.
The president has dubbed it “the laptop from hell”, alleging that the texts and emails reportedly on the computer suggested Hunter was profiting from his father’s government position.
The Biden campaign has firmly dismissed such claims as smears. Mr Trump indicated in his Fox News interview that he would bring up the issue on the debate stage.
For all the domestic controversies that have surrounded Donald Trump’s first term in office, the one area where America’s 45th president has shown himself to be a true revolutionary is as a world leader. From confronting the emerging threat posed by China’s communist rulers to laying the foundations for a new era of co-operation between Israel and her Arab neighbours, Mr Trump has succeeded in radically transforming the international landscape.
Not every Trump initiative, it is true, has been a resounding success. The President’s awkward courtship of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, culminating in a desperate attempt to send him a CD of Elton John’s Rocket Man, was one of the less appetising moments of his presidency, even if his bold diplomatic initiative did result in an unprecedented rapprochement between the Korean peninsula’s rival camps. Questions remain, too, about Mr Trump’s ambivalent approach to Russia, which has encouraged Vladimir Putin to think he can expand Russian influence without encountering resistance from Washington.
Nevertheless, Mr Trump’s unconventional approach has resulted in a radical overhaul of America’s dealings with the rest of the world – in many cases, for the better.
Arguably, Mr Trump’s most significant achievement, and one very much in keeping with his “America First” mantra, has been to oversee a dramatic reduction in Washington’s involvement in overseas conflicts.
Prior to his 2016 election victory, there was a general consensus among both Republicans and Democrats that it was in America’s interests to maintain the role of global policeman, even if it meant involving itself in costly and unpopular military campaigns. Mr Trump has turned this attitude on its head, overseeing a significant decrease in Washington’s global presence while at the same time applying pressure on allies in Europe and elsewhere both to assume more responsibility for protecting their interests, and to pay their fair share.
Nato is a good example of how this unconventional approach has paid dividends. For the better part of two decades, successive Republican and Democratic administrations chided Europe for not fulfilling its financial obligations to the alliance, but did nothing about it. Mr Trump, having provoked a series of very public rows with the likes of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has finally shamed the Europeans into agreeing to increase their Nato contributions.
Nor, by scaling down America’s presence, has Mr Trump undermined the nation’s military preparedness. On the contrary, his presidency has witnessed a significant increase in US defence spending, with large sums spent on upgrading the country’s nuclear arsenal and the formation of the new US Space Force – one of Mr Trump’s proudest creations.
Another important element in Mr Trump’s thinking is to take more targeted measures against potential foes. The destruction of Isil was accomplished by focusing on missile strikes against key targets, instead of launching large-scale ground operations.
Maintaining America’s military prowess will certainly be an important factor in Washington’s deepening confrontation with China, another area where Mr Trump’s involvement has led to a fundamental reappraisal of Washington’s priorities.
Previously, policymakers of all political persuasions were committed to the belief that closer engagement with China’s communist rulers would encourage reform. Mr Trump’s more aggressive stance, prompted by China’s refusal to trade on equal terms with the US, has profoundly changed the way Americans view China, a viewpoint that is likely to continue long after he has left office.
The Middle East is another region that is starting to reap the benefits of Mr Trump’s unique style.
Despite the widespread criticism the president faced for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, the punitive sanctions regime he imposed against Tehran has curbed the malign influence the ayatollahs exerted over the region, while January’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, has severely disrupted Iran’s terrorist network. Meanwhile, the peace deals struck between Israel and the Gulf states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates raise the prospect of ending decades of bitterness, while further isolating those countries, such as Turkey and Qatar, that remain opposed to making peace with the Israelis.
It is a position that, so far as the Arab-israeli dispute is concerned, increasingly puts these rejectionist states on the wrong side of history. For, thanks to Mr Trump, the momentum is firmly fixed on improving relations between Israel and her Arab neighbours. Only yesterday, Israel took a further step in thawing relations by signing four trade deals with the Emirates, a development that would have been unthinkable prior to Mr Trump winning the presidency.
Mr Trump may go down in history as one of America’s most controversial presidents. But as a world leader, he could also be remembered as being one of the most revolutionary.