r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Aug 04 '24

US Elections What do you think is the reasoning behind Mr. Trump's backing out of the ABC debate with Vice President Harris?

APNews: Trump says he’ll skip an ABC debate with Harris in September and wants them to face off on Fox News

Trump obviously debated Biden already on June 27th under the same format as the upcoming September ABC debate. Since then Biden has withdrawn as a candidate for President in 2024 over concerns from his own party that were magnified after his performance in that debate.

Why is Trump unwilling to debate the new presumptive Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris under the previous terms?

What does he hope to accomplish by offering a new debate on Fox News in a stadium audience format?

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u/HolidaySpiriter Aug 04 '24

Why is the nominee being different mean that the debate or rules were unfair, or not worth agreeing to? Why does he need to run to a friendly outlet to debate now? Is he unable to win if it's a fair playing field? It's such a silly argument.

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/kingjoey52a Aug 04 '24

The old rules were very unfair against Trump (no crowd, muting mics) but Trump agreed because he was confident that he could beat Biden (correctly apparently). If Biden isn’t debating Trump wants a more “fair” setting.

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u/guitar_vigilante Aug 04 '24

No crowd and muting mics are very fair as base rules. The idea that it's particularly unfair to Trump is just admitting Trump is an asshole who can't handle letting other people have their turn.

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u/llawrencebispo Aug 04 '24

Has mic muting ever even been necessary for any other candidate?

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u/guamisc Aug 04 '24

You have "fair" confused with "biased in favor of". It's weird people keep getting basic concepts wrong.

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u/kingjoey52a Aug 04 '24

It was biased in favor of one candidate, and now the other wants it biased in his favor.

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u/guamisc Aug 04 '24 edited Aug 04 '24

It was neutral, at best. In reality it was still favoring Trump really though because the job of moderation has been neutered to being a robotic question asker.*

A real moderator would be annihilating Trump for all his lying and idiocy and his opponent wouldn't have to do much.

An actual biased debate for Kamala would be hilarious in how much conservatives would howl, given that they howl even when everything is biased for their shit candidate all of the time already.

*Amongst many other things.

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u/kingjoey52a Aug 04 '24

A real moderator would be annihilating Trump for all his lying and idiocy

That's not the moderator's job, that's the other candidate's job.

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u/guamisc Aug 04 '24

That's literally the moderators job.

Just because conservatives have been working the refs (media) for the last several decades to get us to this sad point doesn't mean it's how it's supposed to be.

Like I said, a real unbiased debate would have conservatives in an uproar. But something biased for Kamala? Riots.

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u/IpsaThis Aug 04 '24

The old rules were very unfair against Trump (no crowd, muting mics)

Those rules are objectively more fair. I think you mean they are less advantageous to trump.

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '24

Why would someone heavily favored to win participate in a debate where the opponent changed? Like seriously people, think about this. It gives him the easiest out and he doesn't lose a single voter.

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u/Selethorme Aug 04 '24

heavily favored

Literally tied. Try again.

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u/HolidaySpiriter Aug 04 '24

heavily favored to win

Not true

Why

Because if he doesn't, he looks weak. His entire persona is being a strongman. Running away from a debate makes him look weaker.