(RightWing.org) – President Biden has challenged his rival Donald Trump to debate him — but his plan might have backfired. Trump quickly accepted the offer. We’ll now get to see two debates, and Trump will be hoping Biden’s age and mental decline will put off voters.
On May 15, Biden claimed Trump had “lost two debates” against him in 2020, and taunted his opponent by saying “Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice.” He then jibed at Trump’s legal difficulties, saying “I hear you’re free Wednesdays.”
This challenge is a risk for Biden, who has always been prone to gaffes and is visibly getting worse. However, he issued it anyway, and within hours had to say Trump had accepted two debate invitations from CNN and ABC. Then, humiliatingly, Trump revealed a third invitation from Fox News — and Biden, walking back from his bold challenge, refused that one.
The pair will now face off against each other on CNN on June 27 — the earliest presidential election debate in recent history — and then again on ABC on September 10. There will also be three “official” debates in late September and early October sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, but the same day as Biden issued his challenge to Trump his campaign team quietly informed the Commission that the president wouldn’t be taking part in those.
It’s possible Biden called on Trump to debate him because he expected his opponent to refuse, and wanted to distract attention from the fact he’d just backed down from the Commission’s debates. On the other hand, he might be getting desperate; polls now show Trump ahead in five of six key swing states.
Only agreeing to debates hosted by media channels also gives Biden more control. His campaign has laid down strict rules, including no live audiences and no third-party candidates. The Commission debates are also close together — September 16, October 1, and October 9 — which might be too exhausting for the increasingly feeble president. The gap between CNN in June and ABC in September should give him time to recover.
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