President Donald Trump and his campaign have said they will not accept promised “additional structure” and changes to future debates, blasting the Commission on Presidential Debates as partisan “swamp monsters.”
“Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?” the president tweeted on Thursday.
Following numerous instances of bickering back-and-forth and interruptions between Trump and Biden, the commission, which sets the rules on presidential debates and includes former presidents and politicians as members, promised changes to “ensure orderly discussion of the issues” in the next two debates.
One of the potential changes that has been floated is giving a debate moderator the ability to switch off a candidate’s microphone if they interrupt too much or get off topic. Biden supporters, like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York), have thrown their support behind the implementation of a ‘mute button.’
Trump’s seeming unwillingness to go along with changes has already triggered critics, including CNN’s Brian Stelter, who called him a “drama king.”
Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller revealed the Biden campaign itself has asked for a mute button in the next debate, as well as “free discussion time being cut down.” Miller says the campaign will not agree to the changes.
On a Thursday press call, Miller accused the commission of containing “permanent swamp monsters,” biased against the president.
Despite the disagreements, the campaign says Trump plans on going to the next debates in Miami, Florida (October 15) and Nashville, Tennessee (October 22).
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