Biden Offers To Debate Trump With Long List Of Demands

President Biden said on Wednesday that he would be up for a debate with former President Donald Trump. However, his proposal came with several strings attached.

In a video posted to X, Biden rose to Trump’s previous challenge for a debate, even though he claimed that Trump “hasn’t shown up for a debate” since he “lost” to him in the presidential debates in 2020 when they first campaigned against each other.

“Now he is acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick the dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Biden stated, referring to Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan where he usually appears in court on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate.

Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again.

Well, make my day, pal. pic.twitter.com/AkPmvs2q4u

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 15, 2024

Biden’s announcement was followed by a letter from his campaign to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan commission that puts together debates among candidates. In the letter, the Biden campaign listed some limits they’re demanding if there would be a debate between the incumbent president and the Republican presidential candidate.

The campaign asked that there be no audience for the debate, demanding that the debate is held in a television studio with only Biden, Trump and the moderator present.

Criticizing the CPD for allowing “huge spectacles with large audiences” in its debates, the campaign wrote, “The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering. As was the case with the original televised debates in 1960, a television studio with just the candidates and moderators is a better, more cost-efficient way to proceed: focused solely on the interests of voters.”

The team also demanded that third-party candidates are not allowed in the debate, a demand that excludes independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

“The debates should be one-on-one, allowing voters to compare the only two candidates with any statistical chance of prevailing in the Electoral College — and not squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming President,” the campaign’s letter read.

The demands made by Biden’s team did not end at limiting participants and the audience but went on to limit the number of major news outlets that can host a presidential debate for 2024.

As written in the latter, “It should be hosted by any broadcast organization that hosted a Republican Primary debate in 2016 in which Donald Trump participated, and a Democratic primary debate in 2020 in which President Biden participated — so neither campaign can assert that the sponsoring organization is obviously unacceptable: if both candidates have previously debated on their airwaves, then neither could object to such venue.”

This means that only CNN, CBS, ABC and Telemundo can host a debate.

Other demands the Biden campaign made had to do with candidates’ speaking time at the debate.

“There should be firm time limits for answers, and alternate turns to speak — so that the time is evenly divided and we have an exchange of views, not a spectacle of mutual interruption. A candidate’s microphone should only be active when it is his turn to speak, to promote adherence to the rules and orderly proceedings,” the team wrote.

Despite all the restrictions laid out by Biden’s team, Trump has already accepted the debate challenge, going on to propose that they debate each other more than twice.

“I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September. I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’” he stated.