Establishment television networks prepared a public letter on Tuesday to pressure President Joe Biden, 81, to debate former President Donald Trump.
Biden remains noncommittal about debating Trump. In contrast, Trump is happy to confront Biden on his record, pledging in March to debate Biden anytime, anywhere, and anyplace.
Nearly three-fourths of voters believe if Biden skips the presidential debates, it shows “weakness,” a Fox News poll found.
“Biden won’t get away with the basement routine this time,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told the New York Times on Tuesday.
In an “unusual” open letter endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, the networks urged Biden to debate Trump, citing the need to reduce polarization, according to a draft version obtained by the Times.
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“General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy, having played a vital role in every presidential election of the past 50 years dating to 1976,” it reads. “In each of those elections, tens of millions have tuned in to watch the candidates debating side by side, in a competition of ideas, for the votes of American citizens.”
“If there is one thing Americans can agree on, during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high,” the letter continued. “There is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of the nation.”
The Commission on Presidential Debates already announced potential dates, venues, and requirements for the confrontation.
“Though it is too early for invitations to be extended to any candidates, it’s not too early for candidates who expect to meet the eligibility criteria to publicly state their support for, and their intention to participate in, the commission’s debates planned for this fall,” the draft read.
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The White HouseDemocrats are not enthusiastic about the prospects of Biden debating.
“I would think twice about it,” Senate Democrat Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently said. I’ve been physically present at one of [Trump’s] debates with Hillary Clinton, and I watched him do outrageous things and say outrageous things. It’s just an opportunity for him to display his extremism.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a Biden ally, said Biden should be weary of debating Trump due to the former president’s ability to overcome establishment media bias. Biden should be careful about allowing Trump to air alleged “hateful, fascist remark,” he added.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
