SPEAK UP: Debating the debate

Biden and Trump have now agreed to two debates. Is this a good idea?

What do voters stand to learn from a debate in these times?

We’re about to find out, yet again, as the news this week is that after some backchannel diplomacy between their respective campaigns, Biden and Trump have agreed to two debates in the months leading up to the 2024 election: the first will take place on June 27 (right after the likely conclusion of Trump’s New York criminal trial), and the second on September 10.

Criminal trial aside, at first glance that all seems normal enough, but maybe that’s just the tendency to normalize things in these very abnormal times. Both events are hosted by TV networks, outside the usual schedule run by the Commission on Presidential Debates (the body that’s supposed to keep these things fair, organized, and accessible to all). But that’s almost beside the point: the real issue, of course, is that one of the candidates comes into this round without accepting the basic facts of the last election. And the announcement comes as the polls show bad news for Biden and mixed messages for Democrats, a significant number of voters are already as misinformed as they’ve ever been and major donors seem to be making calculations based on…economic anxiety?

So what is the point of these debates? Are they likely to clarify anything for confused or undecided voters? Given the gulf between Biden’s grounding in reality and Trump’s insistence on an alternate set of facts, is anyone likely to learn anything from this face-off that they don’t know about either Biden or Trump? Or does it just further normalize Trump’s candidacy? We’d love to know your thoughts, and encourage you to share them below.

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