US election: Trump wants more airtime with Biden
The US President wants earlier chances — and more of them — to debate Joe Biden in a bid to boost his re-election prospects.
US President Donald Trump wants more debates than planned against Joe Biden as his campaign desperately searches for ways to boost his re-election prospects.
Bill Stepien, Mr Trump’s new campaign manager, demanded more than the three debates due to take place on September 29, October 15 and October 22. He pointed out that postal and early voting will have begun in many states by the first debate. There is a vice-presidential debate on October 7.
There have been three televised debates in every presidential election since 1996, when there were two. The only time there have been more than three was 1960, the first election with any TV debates, when John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon duelled four times.
Mr Stepien argued that the expected surge in postal voting because of coronavirus should make this year an exception. “We want more debates. We want debates starting sooner,” he told Fox News. “First debate is scheduled for September 29. By that time 16 states already will have voted. That’s a concern to me. I want to see President Trump on the debate stage against Joe Biden.” He claimed “the liberal left” and “liberal media” were “trying to create trap doors for Joe Biden to escape his commitment and obligations to debate Donald Trump”. Champions of Mr Trump, 74, believe a debate with Mr Biden, 77, will kickstart his campaign.
“Their campaign strategy is to hide Biden at all costs,” Donald Trump Jr, Mr Trump’s son, has said. “If people can’t see him speak (or at least try to) it’s hard to come to the obvious conclusion that he’s not fit to do much, let alone lead America. I bet they don’t even let him come out to do the debates.”
Mr Biden has in fact said he will follow the timetable set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the bipartisan body that arranges them.
Mr Trump’s campaign is considering ways of grabbing attention for the Republican convention, which the president has admitted would have to be mostly online. Plans under discussion, according to The New York Times, include Mr Trump giving his speech on the Gettysburg battlefield or at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
The Times
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