VANITY FAIR
Twelve major national news organizations penned a letter Sunday asking presumptive presidential nominees Joe Biden and Donald Trump to agree to participate in televised general election debates before voters go to the polls in November.
“If there is one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high,” wrote the organizations, which included ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, and PBS.
“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 continued.
Noting that debates “have a rich tradition” in American democracy and “played a vital role in every presidential election” over the past half-century, the signees urged the candidates to “publicly state their support for — and their intention to participate in” debates planned by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which currently has three contests scheduled for the months leading up to the election.
The unusual demand comes as both candidates skirted debates during their respective primaries. Trump publicly snubbed each of the debates hosted by the Republican National Committee, citing his double-digit lead, while the Biden campaign quietly rebuffed calls from primary opponents to get on a debate stage.
Even as Trump loudly refused to share the stage with any fellow Republicans, he has spent months attempting to goad the president into a public debate. In a rally earlier this month, he taunted Biden with an empty lectern on the stage. “This is for Joe Biden. I am trying to get him to debate,” Trump said. “Trying to get Crooked Joe to debate. Anytime, anyplace.” On Thursday, Trump campaign officials Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates asking it to hold more than the usual three contests.
The incumbent Democratic president has been more equivocal about sharing the stage with Trump. Asked by a reporter in March whether he’d commit to a debate, Biden replied that it “depends on [Trump’s] behavior.”
Trump and Biden debated two times during their 2020 matchup (a third planned debate was canceled after then-President Trump contracted COVID-19). The current presumptive GOP nominee’s conduct during the first debate was so disruptive that the Commission on Presidential Debates introduced a mute button.
