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Now, Donald Trump says he wants to “immediately” debate Biden. So I asked my Post Opinions colleagues David Von Drehle and James Hohmann: Is it risky for Biden to take up Trump’s challenge?
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Alexi McCammond: Guys, give it to me straight. Should President Biden debate Donald Trump? Some Democrats are already criticizing the press for playing up Trump’s challenge and spinning what could be a poor Biden performance if he does end up doing it.
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David Von Drehle: There is no reason for Biden to debate Trump. Trump has demonstrated his scorn for debates by refusing to face his GOP rivals. He also showed in 2020 that he has no respect for agreed-upon rules. He is a shameless clown, and Biden should not give him the forum.
James Hohmann: Biden should call Trump’s bluff. The former president says he’s ready to debate the current president “immediately” and “for the good of the country.” Challenge him to go mano a mano.
Alexi: And if Trump says “Okay, let’s do it, grandpa,” then what? Should Biden square up?
James: Biden needs to take a page from the Harry Truman playbook in 1948. Give ’em hell, Joe. Come out fighting the way he did in 2012 against Paul Ryan.
Alexi: Laughing at Biden taking notes from 1948 😭. He’s already old, James!
James: Trump is old, too. Remember he showed up with covid to the first debate in 2020 and lied about it.
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David: There is nothing that either of these men have to say that hasn’t been said a thousand times. Between them, they have nearly 160 years of nonstop talking. They are two of the most verbose individuals in U.S. history. Spare us.
James: Biden refusing to debate would give Trump so much fodder to attack him as a scaredy cat and would also give Trump cover to not answer tough questions about his own plans or record.
Alexi: Trump is so unserious, though, and even more erratic than before. Don’t you think it’d be harder for Biden to take on Trump now that Biden’s older?
James: Trump is leading in the polls that matter. He would win if the election were today. Biden has to change the trajectory of the race.
David: Biden’s best shot to change the trajectory (apart from dropping out) is by campaigning, not by standing onstage with a ranting Trump for two excruciating hours.
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James: It might be worth mixing up the format. The old way of doing debates feels tired. Maybe there could be, like, a tag team. Biden joined onstage by Jake Sullivan to help with foreign policy and Neera Tanden to help with domestic policy. And Trump could have Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. This might make it more interesting.
Alexi: I’m loving this creativity, James. Also, I wish there’d be moderators from different networks together.
David: It doesn’t matter what rules you have — Trump will ignore them. Although I do like the idea of Stephen “C. Montgomery Burns” Miller in a UFC cage.
Alexi: Now we’re cooking with gas. This would be fascinating. DVD, are you a UFC guy?
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David: Only on weekends.
James: I prefer NASCAR over UFC. I think Biden would beat Trump if you put them in cars on a speedway. Maybe do it in a swing state.
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Alexi: Would voters even benefit from watching a single debate? One of our Prompt 2024 readers emailed me and said it would show people whether either has declined since the last time they debated, in 2020.
James: I think it’s important there be more than one debate. Presidents, including Barack Obama in 2012, usually underperform their first time out. So you’d want to make sure at least two are on the books before you do the first one.
David: Oh my God, James! TWO?? If this happens, I will blame you. We’ll have to settle it in the cage.
🙅🏽♀️ 🙅🏽♀️ 🙅🏽♀️
The next word
To prepare for this newsletter, I re-watched the 2020 Trump-Biden debate moderated by Chris Wallace, and it only confirmed for me that Biden shouldn’t do it again. My neck was sore from shaking my head so much.
It’s worth revisiting some commentary from that time: The New York Times captured it well with this headline: “With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden.” Ilene Prusher, in an essay for NBC News, wondered whether letting her 10- and 8-year-old children watch the debate was “tantamount to taking them to a bloody boxing match.”
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That said, skipping a debate with Trump — which, to be clear, is not something the Biden campaign has proposed doing — would be consistent with its selective media strategy so far. Biden has done fewer interviews than his last two predecessors and recently got flak for skipping the Super Bowl interview for the second year in a row.
That exposes Biden to criticism that he’s afraid to open himself to scrutiny. Matthew Yglesias, in a Bloomberg column arguing in favor of debates, fears that candidates don’t seem to care about this. As he puts it, they see not participating in debates as “a bad look” only “in a world where people care what mainstream media has to say. … Modern presidents can tweet, vlog, TikTok or whatever else if they want people to hear what they have to say rather than fielding hardballs from reporters trying to trip them up.”
It’s also true that debates serve a useful purpose. Kathleen Hall Jamieson passionately made a case for them in a 2012 Post op-ed, arguing, “When voters are anxious about the well-being of future generations, they also are more likely to tune in to longer forms of political communication — such as debates and other televised presentations — that are conducive to honestly explaining more complex topics.”
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Still, I’m not convinced another Trump-Biden debate would be worth it. When Trump’s on the stage, anxious voters can’t expect much “honest” explanation about anything.
🖥️ 🖥️ 🖥️
r/Politics
On the r/BlackPeopleTwitter subreddit, a user posted about Trump’s claim that his mug shot appeals to Black voters. “You know who embraced it more than anyone else?” Trump said. “The Black population.”
This reply was particularly insightful: “The sad truth is that I have met several Black folks who want him over Biden because ‘they are prosecuting him.’ The crazy thing is, they believe he did something wrong (i.e. broke a law at some point) but side with him because they think he should get away with it. However, these are generally the people I know who live by illegal hustle culture and scammer culture.”
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Brain dump
- Don’t blame Biden’s dogs for the blood on the White House floors, Jill Abramson writes for Post Opinions. Woof.
- Exclusive excerpt in Post Opinions: Author Emmeline Clein shares a powerful essay about the experience of those struggling with (and losing their lives to) anorexia. More here.
- Republicans are losing the health-care battle: Jordan Zakarin writes about what’s really going down in states such as Oregon, Virginia, Kansas and others. Read his Progress Report Substack newsletter.
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We’ve come a long way since Joe Biden’s vice-presidential debate against Paul Ryan in 2012. Biden reportedly interrupted his opponent 85 times and displayed a “disturbingly non-professional demeanor,” as conservative writer Scott Paulson wrote in an CBS News op-ed. How quaint.
Now, Donald Trump says he wants to “immediately” debate Biden. So I asked my Post Opinions colleagues David Von Drehle and James Hohmann: Is it risky for Biden to take up Trump’s challenge?
Alexi McCammond: Guys, give it to me straight. Should President Biden debate Donald Trump? Some Democrats are already criticizing the press for playing up Trump’s challenge and spinning what could be a poor Biden performance if he does end up doing it.
David Von Drehle: There is no reason for Biden to debate Trump. Trump has demonstrated his scorn for debates by refusing to face his GOP rivals. He also showed in 2020 that he has no respect for agreed-upon rules. He is a shameless clown, and Biden should not give him the forum.
James Hohmann: Biden should call Trump’s bluff. The former president says he’s ready to debate the current president “immediately” and “for the good of the country.” Challenge him to go mano a mano.
Alexi: And if Trump says “Okay, let’s do it, grandpa,” then what? Should Biden square up?
James: Biden needs to take a page from the Harry Truman playbook in 1948. Give ’em hell, Joe. Come out fighting the way he did in 2012 against Paul Ryan.
Alexi: Laughing at Biden taking notes from 1948 😭. He’s already old, James!
James: Trump is old, too. Remember he showed up with covid to the first debate in 2020 and lied about it.
David: There is nothing that either of these men have to say that hasn’t been said a thousand times. Between them, they have nearly 160 years of nonstop talking. They are two of the most verbose individuals in U.S. history. Spare us.
James: Biden refusing to debate would give Trump so much fodder to attack him as a scaredy cat and would also give Trump cover to not answer tough questions about his own plans or record.
Alexi: Trump is so unserious, though, and even more erratic than before. Don’t you think it’d be harder for Biden to take on Trump now that Biden’s older?
James: Trump is leading in the polls that matter. He would win if the election were today. Biden has to change the trajectory of the race.
David: Biden’s best shot to change the trajectory (apart from dropping out) is by campaigning, not by standing onstage with a ranting Trump for two excruciating hours.
James: It might be worth mixing up the format. The old way of doing debates feels tired. Maybe there could be, like, a tag team. Biden joined onstage by Jake Sullivan to help with foreign policy and Neera Tanden to help with domestic policy. And Trump could have Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. This might make it more interesting.
Alexi: I’m loving this creativity, James. Also, I wish there’d be moderators from different networks together.
David: It doesn’t matter what rules you have — Trump will ignore them. Although I do like the idea of Stephen “C. Montgomery Burns” Miller in a UFC cage.
Alexi: Now we’re cooking with gas. This would be fascinating. DVD, are you a UFC guy?
David: Only on weekends.
James: I prefer NASCAR over UFC. I think Biden would beat Trump if you put them in cars on a speedway. Maybe do it in a swing state.
Alexi: Would voters even benefit from watching a single debate? One of our Prompt 2024 readers emailed me and said it would show people whether either has declined since the last time they debated, in 2020.
James: I think it’s important there be more than one debate. Presidents, including Barack Obama in 2012, usually underperform their first time out. So you’d want to make sure at least two are on the books before you do the first one.
David: Oh my God, James! TWO?? If this happens, I will blame you. We’ll have to settle it in the cage.
To prepare for this newsletter, I re-watched the 2020 Trump-Biden debate moderated by Chris Wallace, and it only confirmed for me that Biden shouldn’t do it again. My neck was sore from shaking my head so much.
It’s worth revisiting some commentary from that time: The New York Times captured it well with this headline: “With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden.” Ilene Prusher, in an essay for NBC News, wondered whether letting her 10- and 8-year-old children watch the debate was “tantamount to taking them to a bloody boxing match.”
That said, skipping a debate with Trump — which, to be clear, is not something the Biden campaign has proposed doing — would be consistent with its selective media strategy so far. Biden has done fewer interviews than his last two predecessors and recently got flak for skipping the Super Bowl interview for the second year in a row.
That exposes Biden to criticism that he’s afraid to open himself to scrutiny. Matthew Yglesias, in a Bloomberg column arguing in favor of debates, fears that candidates don’t seem to care about this. As he puts it, they see not participating in debates as “a bad look” only “in a world where people care what mainstream media has to say. … Modern presidents can tweet, vlog, TikTok or whatever else if they want people to hear what they have to say rather than fielding hardballs from reporters trying to trip them up.”
It’s also true that debates serve a useful purpose. Kathleen Hall Jamieson passionately made a case for them in a 2012 Post op-ed, arguing, “When voters are anxious about the well-being of future generations, they also are more likely to tune in to longer forms of political communication — such as debates and other televised presentations — that are conducive to honestly explaining more complex topics.”
Still, I’m not convinced another Trump-Biden debate would be worth it. When Trump’s on the stage, anxious voters can’t expect much “honest” explanation about anything.
On the r/BlackPeopleTwitter subreddit, a user posted about Trump’s claim that his mug shot appeals to Black voters. “You know who embraced it more than anyone else?” Trump said. “The Black population.”
This reply was particularly insightful: “The sad truth is that I have met several Black folks who want him over Biden because ‘they are prosecuting him.’ The crazy thing is, they believe he did something wrong (i.e. broke a law at some point) but side with him because they think he should get away with it. However, these are generally the people I know who live by illegal hustle culture and scammer culture.”
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