Donald Trump might lose his first debate with Joe Biden
Trump might have goofed by accepting the new rules and the biased CNN moderators
The rules for this month’s debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been finalized by CNN and the candidates. Contrary to what you might think, I am not optimistic about Trump’s chances, given the set of rules and the moderators. I do not know why Trump agreed to any of it, but I suspect it might blow up in his face.
Before I get into the details, here’s a report from Politico that covers the rules:
The cable network announced several steps it is taking to facilitate civil discourse at the candidates’ first meeting of the 2024 campaign — including muting mics to avoid interruptions between turns, nixing a studio audience and placing two commercial breaks in the 90-minute broadcast. These and other rules were agreed upon by both the Biden and Trump campaigns on Saturday ahead of the June 27 debate in Atlanta.
Several rules appear designed to prevent a repeat of the first debate of the 2020 presidential cycle — an openly hostile meeting where Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and …