Trump ‘won’t allow’ changes to debate rules
President accused of hounding his opponent opposes plans to alter presidential debate format
DONALD TRUMP yesterday declared his opposition to changing the rules for the next two presidential debates and suggested he would not “allow” such a thing to happen, setting up a potential clash with the organisers.
The Commission on Presidential Debates, the non-partisan body which puts on the events, announced after Tuesday’s raucous clash between Mr Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, that “additional structure” would be put in place for the two remaining meetings.
One specific change they are considering, according to the Associated Press, is giving the debate moderator the ability to cut off the microphone of one candidate to allow the other to answer a question, a move that could be effective but controversial.
Mr Trump left no doubt about his opposition yesterday afternoon, tweeting: “Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third debates when I easily won last time?”
The remarks raised the question of whether the US president will agree to attend the l ast two debates i f, as expected, the Commission announces format changes.
The idea of cutting microphones is being discussed after Mr Trump interrupted either Mr Biden or the moderator Chris Wallace at least 128 times during the 90-minute debate in Cleveland, according to the magazine Slate which went back and counted.
Details of specific format changes are yet to be announced. But Mr Trump’s tweet was preceded by his campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh rejecting the need for any modifications.
“They’re only doing this because their guy got pummelled last night. President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs,” Mr Murtaugh said on Wednesday. “They shouldn’t be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game.”
Similarly, Kayleigh Mcenany, the White House press secretary, said that Mr Trump “doesn’t want rules that cover for a certain candidate’s inability to perform well”, a jibe at Mr Biden.
Yet a string of Republican senators expressed their dismay. The Utah senator Mitt Romney called the debate an “embarrassment”, Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski called it a “brawl” and Nebraska senator Deb Fischer called it “exhausting”.
Susan Collins, a Maine senator, said it was “the least educational debate of any presidential debate I’ve ever seen”. All four politicians are from Mr Trump’s own party.
Mr Wallace, the Fox News host whose handling of the debate was in the spotlight after Mr Trump repeatedly talked over Mr Biden, laid bare his frustration in a New York Times interview.
“I never dreamt that it would go off the tracks the way it did,” Mr Wallace said. “I’m a pro. I’ve never been through anything like this.”
Mr Wallace said he would have jumped in sooner to establish order if he had known beforehand that Mr Trump’s strategy would be to hound his opponent. But he warned that cutting microphones may not work. “As a practical matter, even if the president’s microphone had been shut, he still could have continued to interrupt, and it might well have been picked up on Biden’s microphone, and it still would have disrupted the proceedings in the hall,” he said.
Mr Trump, speaking at a rally on Wednesday, again criticised Mr Wallace. “I was debating two people last night. I’m so disappointed in Fox,” he said.
Mr Biden was taking a day off the campaign trail yesterday after completing a train tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mr Biden said he wanted blue collar workers who felt the Democratic Party no longer felt their economic pain to know he understood their concerns.
“I get it. I get their sense of being left behind,” he said.
It was reported yesterday that Mr Biden’s campaign will send supporters to solicit possible voters in person, after months of shunning door-knocking efforts due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Several hundred volunteers will fan out across the key states of Nevada, Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, focusing on voters who may be difficult to reach by phone or online.
Mr Biden’s campaign also managed to raise more than $30 million in donations in the 24 hours after the presidential debate was aired.
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