Trump’s mic may be muted to avoid debate debacle
PRESIDENT Donald Trump could have his microphone muted under new rules for the second US presidential debate.
The moderator could silence the president after he repeatedly interrupted Joe Biden during the first event, turning it into an out of control mess.
Mr Trump cut in 71 times while Mr Biden interrupted 19 times during the 90-minute debate, according to a Washington Post analysis.
The format of the second debate was always going to differ from the first as the candidates will now respond to questions from South Florida residents in a town meeting-style event.
But despite the planned changes, the Commission on Presidential Debates – a bipartisan body which organises the events – said it needed new measures to ensure ‘ additional structure’ i n the remaining contests. The exact measures will be announced later but US outlets reported that cutting the microphones of both candidates is on the table.
Tim Murtaugh, from the Trump campaign, criticised the commission. He said: ‘They shouldn’t be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game.’
However, Mr Biden said he welcomed any changes after what he called a ‘national embarrassment’ of a debate.
At one point he became so fed up with Mr Trump, he said: ‘Will you shut up, man?’
And after the event finished, Mr Biden reportedly said to moderator Chris Wallace: ‘I bet you didn’t think you were signing up for a boxing match.’ But Mr Wallace admitted that muting Mr Trump might not be enough as he ‘could have continued to interrupt and it might have been picked up on Mr Biden’s microphone’.
Mr Trump said the debate was ‘fun’ but Republicans were aghast at his performance. Polls showed that 39% of voters thought Mr Trump did worse than they expected in the debate – this figure was only 13% for Mr Biden. And a majority of independent voters, 61%, said that they were disappointed.
One of the president’s biggest blunders was failing to condemn white supremacy and he told hate group the Proud Boys to ‘stand by’ – which they took as a rallying cry.
The second debate will take place on October 15 in Miami.