On Sunday, major news organizations issued a joint statement urging Joe Biden and Donald Trump to "publicly commit" to participating in the general election debates.
“With the contours of the 2024 general election now coming into clear focus, we — the undersigned national news organizations—urge the presumptive presidential nominees to publicly commit to participating in general election debates before November's election," the letter begins.
General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy, having played a vital role in every presidential election of the past 50 years, dating to 1976. In each of those elections, tens of millions have tuned in to watch the candidates debating side by side, in a competition of ideas for the votes of American citizens.
Since 1988, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has sponsored all presidential general election debates. The Commission has previously announced dates, times, and eligibility criteria for 2024 debates. Though it is too early for invitations to be extended to any candidates, it is not too early for candidates who expect to meet the eligibility criteria to publicly state their support for - and their intention to participate in - the Commission's debates planned for this fall.
“If there is one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high. Amidst that backdrop, there is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation," the letter concludes.
And it wasn't just conservative media urging for these debates. ABC News, the Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, NBC Universal News Group, NewsNation, Noticias Univision, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and USA Today all signed on to the statement.
I don't need to tell you that most of those networks are liberal. That's how important debates are. These organizations know Joe Biden can't talk his way out of a paper bag, but they want the debates anyway.
"The last time that a presidential election cycle went without a general election debate was 1972," reports Deadline, which tried to blame Trump for the possibility of no debates taking place this year. "But there has been increasing speculation that this cycle will go without any debates, as Trump has consistently criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has been tasked with organizing the events for the past 35 years."
Trump last month challenged Biden to debate, and the president said in response, “It depends on his behavior.” In the first debate last cycle, Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden, in an event that quickly went off the rails. They participated in one more debate that cycle.
The Biden campaign has yet to commit to participating. However, there is no doubt that Donald Trump wants to debate.
“He and I have to definitely debate. That’s what I love. The two of us have to debate,” Trump said last June.
He's calling for more than the standard three debates, and he wants them to take place earlier. He has a good reason for this, too. Since people are voting earlier and earlier, by the time the first debate takes place, more than a million Americans will have already voted.
Related: After Biden’s Speech, I’m More Convinced Than Ever He Won’t Debate Trump
Several paragraphs later, Deadline finally acknowledged that Biden is "refusing to say whether or not he will get on a stage with Donald Trump this year," and even admitted that "In many ways, the letter is intended for incumbent Biden over Trump."
You think?
While Trump and the Republican National Committee have very serious concerns over the bias of the Commission on Presidential Debates, Trump wants to debate Biden and to debate him more than three times. Biden, who struggles to speak and has the energy of a sloth, has more to lose by debating Trump, and that's why his campaign is refusing to commit to any debates and claiming the reason is Trump's fault, and that's why the liberal media is trying to blame Trump.
