Trump campaign calls for presidential debates to come sooner rather than later
After he refused to debate any of his Republican primary opponents, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is asking the body responsible for presidential debates to move the contests forward in the election cycle.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced there will be three meetings between Trump and President Joe Biden, but according to a letter sent to the commission by Trump campaign co-managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, the date’s they’ve selected will leave millions of Americans without the benefit of seeing a debate before they’ve cast a ballot.
“Specific to the Commission’s proposed 2024 calendar, it simply comes too late,” they wrote.
According to Trump’s staff, when the first debate is held on September 16, “over 1 million Americans will have likely voted.”
By the next debate, scheduled for October 1, they say it will be more like 3 million. When the final debate is held on October 9, “approximately 8.7 million Americans will have already voted.”
“Former President Abraham Lincoln and former U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas held seven debates in their storied 1858 U.S. Senate battle in Illinois. Certainly today’s America deserves as much,” team Trump wrote.
The call for earlier debates was followed by a letter signed by 12 major U.S. news organizations, calling on both campaigns to commit to the traditional debate process. Biden hasn’t made clear he will meet Trump on stage.
“There is simply no simply no substitute” for debates, the news organizations wrote.
