President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, have decided to face off in two debates leading up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The first debate will be hosted by CNN on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia and the second by ABC News on September 10.
Mr Biden, on Wednesday, announced his willingness to slug it out against his strongest opponent Mr Trump as part of efforts to win over voters and portray the latter as a man unfit to lead the nation. Surprisingly, Mr Trump — who had previously declined debates organised by his Republican party — did not shy from the challenge.
The former president believes it to be his best chance to expose Mr Biden shortcomings and sway voters to his party.
The debate, however, comes with conditions, which include the sparring taking place in a TV studio without any audience and with microphones that go off automatically after the time allotted to a speaker elapses.
Mr Biden’s team believes Mr Trump might leverage the cheers and jeers of the audience to throw unnecessary jabs at their principal and might also exceed the given time for each question.
The president’s team turned down debates organised by Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) opting for news stations where Mr Biden and his opponent can freely choose dates (before the election) that favour them.
The debate may preclude independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr, who bemoaned the agreement, claiming the duo were “trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win.”
“Let’s pick the date, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Mr Biden said, throwing a jab at Mr Trump, who had a court hearing every other day of the week except Wednesday.
Mr Trump did not hold back in his retort as he implied Mr Biden was a coward who was “afraid of crowds.”
“I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them,” Mr Trump said in response to Mr Biden’s taunt.
