Several US television channels want to write to Donald Trump and Joe Biden: The two candidates should take part in the TV duel. But that could fail.
Washington DC - The atmosphere was chaotic, aggressive and in the end no one really knew who actually won: The first TV duel between then US President Donald Trump and his competitor, current President Joe Biden, was nothing in 2020 for the faint of heart. In the middle of the pandemic, the two presidential candidates faced each other for a good hour and a half and had a tough and heated debate. If the major television networks in the USA have their way, there will be several TV debates before the US election again this year. To do this, they contact the two candidates directly - with an uncertain outcome.
Five US broadcasters are preparing a letter to Biden and Trump so that a TV duel takes place
The New York Times
writes this
in an article from Tuesday (April 9). Accordingly, the five major broadcast and cable news networks – ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News – have prepared a joint open letter. In this they wanted to call on Biden and Trump to take part in television debates before election day. The newspaper names two people informed about the plans as sources.
“We, the undersigned national news organizations, call on the presumptive presidential candidates to publicly commit to participating in general election debates before the November election,” the paper quotes from the letter. This is said to be available to the
New York Times
and has not yet been sent. The broadcasters apparently want other news organizations and newspapers to take part.
In addition to the newspaper, the news website
Axios
also reported on the letter on Tuesday. Axios also cited its own sources. A little later,
CNN
indirectly confirmed
the rumors: an article about the letter in question suddenly appeared on the channel's homepage that afternoon.
Biden doesn't rule out a TV duel with Trump, but he doesn't agree to it either
The background to the move appears to be the growing uncertainty as to whether there will even be a TV duel this year. Three debates are planned for September and October - but according to the
New York Times
, President Biden has repeatedly refused to officially accept. According to
Axios
, in March he did
not rule out a duel with Trump. “It depends on his behavior,”
Axios
quoted the president as saying. Biden was referring to the behavior of his competitor.
After all, he had often attracted negative attention in such TV debates in the past. In 2020, Trump lashed out at Biden, repeatedly interrupting his rival and falsely claiming that the election was being rigged. The sad highlight of the debate was a statement by Trump that was understood as “marching orders”. He called on the right-wing extremist group “Proud Boys” to “stand by.”
At the time, moderator Chris Wallace was accused of not having the candidates under control - new rules should apply to the second duel. The plan was for the moderators to be able to turn off the microphone for the candidates. Trump refused. The second duel in 2020 was more civilized. Instead of interrupting and insulting, it was actually about content.
Trump calls on Biden to a TV duel
After his last Republican opponent dropped out of the presidential race, Trump invited Biden to a TV duel in March. “It is important for the well-being of our country that Joe Biden and I debate issues that are so important to America and the American people. “That’s why I call for debates ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANY PLACE,” Trump wrote on his online messenger Truth Social.
What to make of this remains to be seen. As the New York Times points out, Trump refused to stand on stage with his competitors in the Republican primary campaign just once this year. And he backed down once in 2020: Trump canceled the second debate because he didn't want to get involved in a virtual debate. Trump was infected with the corona virus at the time.
The positive test result was available just 24 hours after the first duel; according to the report, a former Biden advisor claimed that Trump had tested positive several days before the debate. Biden staffers believed Trump was able to evade the medical testing protocol at the time.
Dates for US television duels are already available
According to the newspaper report, the Biden team does not want to rule out the duels. Meanwhile, the draft letter refers to the enormous importance and tradition of such a debate. “General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy and have played a crucial role in every presidential election over the past 50 years since 1976,” quotes the
New York Times
. “In each of these elections, tens of millions tuned in to watch the candidates debate side by side in a competition of ideas for the votes of the American people.”
According to
Axios,
the debates are scheduled for September 16, October 1 and October 9, according to the relevant commission. For the first time, a TV duel was held in the 1960 presidential election campaign between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. The first duel between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 achieved
the highest ratings of all time with 84 million viewers, according to
the New York Times
. Trump and Biden were watched by an average of 68 million people in 2020.
(flon)