The first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is approaching fast, and frankly, I’m still skeptical that it will even take place.
The mainstream media appears nervous that it will.
For example, MSNBC anchor Alex Wagner lamented last week that Donald Trump will be held to a significantly lower standard than Biden will be in the upcoming debates, and even argued that Biden has to overcome a “structural disadvantage."
"It already feels like the bar that is set for Biden to clear is so much more substantially higher than the one Trump has to clear. Which is literally, ‘Is he alive?’ ‘Is he standing?’ ‘Are there words coming out of his mouth?’" Wagner claimed.
Really? For months now, Trump has been setting a low bar for Joe Biden, saying things like he “can’t put two sentences together.” Senate Republicans told The Hill last month Trump is making a mistake by doing so. "They say Trump risks lowering the floor for Biden to the point that a decent performance, not a superlative one, will help the president,” the report explained. "And they say it’s familiar frustration to them, as Trump also lowered expectations for Biden ahead of the first debate in 2020 — a move that backfired spectacularly."
It’s actually ironic that Wagner set a low bar for Trump by suggesting that he’s the one struggling with senility. "The fact he’s up there standing, still talking is enough, the Trump team thinks, to placate anyone or dissuade them from thinking he’s somewhat adult. And thus far, they seem to be right,” she said. "The fact of the matter is, there’s way more scrutiny on President Biden than there is on former President Trump, given the absurd tirades and non-sequiturs that are now part of his daily routine."
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"I wonder if there’s any way for Biden to overcome what seems like a structural disadvantage in the weeks leading up to what’s going to be a pretty important inflection point in this campaign,” Wagner added.
Can anyone explain how Joe Biden, whose campaign set the terms of the debate, is at a structural disadvantage? The rules they proposed — which Trump agreed to — were designed to benefit Joe Biden, yet Wagner feels the need to preemptively make excuses for Biden’s anticipated poor performance. Not only will there be no audience present, but there will be no opening statements, microphones will be muted when it’s not the candidate’s turn, and it will be just one hour, not the usual 90 minutes. Even with all these rules that Biden wanted, this week, the Biden campaign reportedly sought to renegotiate the debate rules to allow Joe Biden to be seated.
Despite this, Wagner’s guest, Susan Glasser of The New Yorker, agreed that Biden is the disadvantaged one. Glasser insisted that Biden has a ”tougher task" compared to Trump, because, she says, his supporters "don’t hold him accountable to the same standards as other public officials in this country."
"The challenge with running against Trump for Biden is it's not really a head-to-head contest in which they’re both being judged in the same terms,” Glasser claimed.
On MSNBC, Alex Wagner whines that Trump will be held to a much lower standard than Biden during the debates. Susan Glasser agrees, says the MAGA base doesn't hold Trump "accountable" like...well, hostile leftist Democrat journalists. pic.twitter.com/ld8bkSHPtK
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 17, 2024
It’s hilarious how the leftist media wants you to believe that Joe Biden is the one with a “structural disadvantage” in the debates. His campaign came up with the rules, for crying out loud. And you can bet that no matter what happens in the debate, they will claim that Biden won it handily.
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