it will accomplish nothing.
conservatives dont care about facts, or policy or governing. its me me me me and nothing else.
a debate will be ignored by both sides as superfluous.
Policy and governance largely don’t matter since it is “I dunno, I’ll try to avoid overly fucking over The American People while getting some stuff better?” versus “I am going to turn this into gilead (just much stupider since a literary, or even tv, reference is too much for that moron”
But I do think it would “help” to have at least one “debate”. I know a couple people who were really worried about Biden and were buying into the “he has dementia and is weak” propaganda. When he thought trump was attacking Beau and went off on him… that convinced them.
interesting perspective, thank you!
While I basically agree on the outcome, I worry that it will lead to more absence of presidential debates which feels problematic in terms of keeping people in echo chambers . I mean I don’t seriously think anyones mind will change but generally hearing it out anyway is…maybe productive? Idk
Trump will just talk over Biden and scream about shit that doesnt make sense or some hate speech.
I think the time of American political debates, and to an extent American democracy, is over.
Arguably, political debates are meaningless today. When they were hosted by the League of Women Voters and the candidates had to actually answer questions, it was interesting and potentially informative. Now, it’s scripted to the point of being useless. Candidates will refuse to answer questions and simply repeat talking points prepared ahead of time and which have already been aired in countless political ads. Candidates like Trump won’t even go that far, but treat it like a campaign rally where they’re playing a professional wrestling character.
Trump decided there was no need to debate in the primaries. He’s the chosen one. I don’t see why the democrats should bother to debate either. Biden’s not going to win or lose based on the debate. It’s going to come down to turnout. I can’t imagine that there’s anyone on the fence other than whether they’re going to bother to vote or not.
Biden would be better served actually making impactful public statements that invigorate people to turn out. Trump is constantly trying to win in the court of public opinion, and if Biden doesn’t meet him on that field, Trump wins by default.
The only way this works is if each candidate has 1 minute to answer and is then MUTED at the 1 minute cut off, AND for the duration of the next person’s turn. Further, each should be seated in a sound-proof box, with a light that is turned off so that no-one can hear them or read their lips unless the microphone and light are on
I like this kind of idea, but to be honest, I’m still uncertain of the value added by the debate format.
A president doesn’t pass policies by debate. They formulate an agenda and work with policy experts to construct a means to achieving those items. They form a cabinet, which ideally consist of people skilled in management and with enough subject matter expertise that they can provide a similar approach to the management of their various departments, and so on.
Debates are simply theatrical performances that are not replicated nor relevant to the job of the executive. They have scripted lines that they try to fit in, they’re coached on talking points and how to deflect on subjects their handlers don’t want them to talk about.
I vastly prefer policy positions published in detail and unscripted interviews with professional journalists who are not looking to protect their access but rather to both clarify points the candidates have made and more importantly to bring up issues that are relevant but which the candidates have avoided.
To be crude, I literally don’t give a fuck that the line “I knew John F Kennedy, and you’re no John F Kennedy” was one of the best retorts in (vice) presidential debate history, and anyone who would vote on that kind of thing - in my opinion - is not properly exercising their choice.
I’m okay with stump speeches - I think they’re still pretty useless for many of the same reasons - but they do give a sense of the personality of the candidate and their approach to addressing the public. That is an important factor - the charisma effect - and I think we should keep them around.
Something tells me we should not be giving the guy who said he’d be a dictator “for a day” time on the air.
Giving him a microphone on national television is a terrible idea. He will absolutely use that time to spew hatred, lies and the most absurd conspiracy theories.
His moron supporters will eat it all up, not unlike how puppies eat their own shit.
Every major news network wants this debate to happen. Think about the outrage money, it angrily prints itself!
I’m not even from the US and I know Trump is incapable to stay remotely on topic. By the fourth sentence he will be trailing off about Tim Apple or that space wall he will build against aliens and Hunters laptop and Hillaries emails and how everyone is witchhunting him. There simply won’t be an actual debate either way.
I don’t even think he uses sentences. It’s just words
He should refuse on the grounds that Trump is an illegitimate candidate who attempted an insurrection on Jan. 6th. He should say that he is willing to debate serious candidates, but that Trump should be disqualified from running per the 14th Amendment.
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And since when exactly do conservatives care about reality? It’s a waste of time. Those who voted for Trump in 2020 will vote for him in 2024 (except the few geniuses who needed a fucking insurrection to stop worshipping him).
Or the ones who need a ressurection thanks to Covid denial.
Imagine bringing one of them back to life and when asked about the afterlife he just abuses the spotlight to ramble about Hunter Bidens Laptop.
“Debate”. If it happens I’ll only be watching it for memes lmao
“Will you shut up man?” Should be great
What kind of debate? Trump shouldn’t even be allowed on the ballots, much less to breathe air outside of prison walls.
There’s genuinely no point. All it will do is give Trump free airtime.
ABSOLUTELY NOT. GOOD GOD MAN, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMNED MIND?!?
They’re idiots, then. Debates don’t matter, but NOT going to a debate if your opponent does/will matters.
As far as Biden taking on Trump, that matchup will be fine, just about the same as last time with less COVID.
NOT going to a debate if your opponent does/will matters.
You know Trump isn’t going to go. And if Biden stutters just once, his entire implied persona as being not senile will tank.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt—someone somewhen in the past
Nobody whose not already voting for Trump cares about a stutter.
I’m looking forward to a few one liners from Biden, and maybe some carpet chewing from Trump.
My question is… would Trump even choose to participate in the debates if he (inevitably) wins the Republican nomination? He’s refused to even engage with the primary debates in his own party and is still leagues ahead of any other candidate in the polls.
If he doesn’t, I hope Biden takes part anyway and that Trump gets empty chaired. They could either invite some third party (Libertarian, Communist, etc) or independent candidates to give Biden someone to debate with, or give Biden a fully uncontested soapbox to ramble with the debate moderator. The latter would be hilarious to watch and would truly show what a farce this election is becoming.
Have a camera cut to an empty podium occasionally and I’d get a good chuckle.
Holy shit yes he should. Let people see how unhinged Trump is compared to someone like Biden
We did. We saw it all. We saw it live on TV over and over again.
His fanbase does not care.
The wrestle with a dirty pig quote comes to mind.
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Yes and who won that election? Right now Trump is in the lead because not everyone is as politically engaged as we are. Reminding those folks of how bad Trump is should be a priority
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I think it’s a bad idea to give Trump air time… in the same way it would be to “debate” Alex Jones.
This. 1000x this.
Unless you have someone who has a strong hand moderating who isn’t afraid to cut mics, Trump will just gish gallop his way to making Biden look foolish.
Like Alex Jones, Trump has a lot more stage charisma and is better at improv than Biden, plus he doesn’t have to tell the truth about anything. Biden, on the other hand, is old school and would behave as if Trump was some kind of gentleman. It would just wind up being a free Trump Rally, with Biden as the punchline and the media having their pick of idiotic sound bites to inundate the rest of us for months on end.
