If children refuse to obey rules - you correct them. If they continue to refuse to obey rules - you punish them. And so it is with the final presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden.
After the first debate, which was more like a disrespectful display of juvenile behavior than a debate between two men who want to be POTUS, the Commission on Presidential Debates has announced a way to fix the problem of constant interruption - each candidate’s mic will be muted during the 2 minute segment of their opponent's uninterrupted response. The day after the first debate debacle - muting their mics was the possible solution I started talking about, and it is a positive step that the commission is taking that action.
It should be noted that the fact that the debate commission has taken the drastic measure of actually cutting off the mics of the candidates when each is supposed to be respecting the other candidate’s response speaks to the juvenile ambience of the campaign of 2020.
Joe Biden did interrupt President Trump during the first debate, but there is no doubt that President Trump championed the art of interruption. Trump immediately complained about his mic being muted during tomorrow night’s debate in Nashville, TN.
Speaking to “Fox & Friends” on The Fox News Channel this week, President Trump said, “The whole thing is crazy. It’s a set up. It’s incredible. We’ve been winn for so long.”
Trump’s self-pitying attitude when he is supposed to respect Biden’s opportunity to have an uninterrupted response is beyond childish. What President Trump is saying is that he is incapable of debating without verbally bullying his opponent. And if Biden’s mic is also muted when Trump is responding, how can the argument be that it’s a “set up" ? Any complaints from President Trump’s should fall on deaf ears and he should be exposed as a candidate who struggles with civility.
The first thought that comes to mind to President Trump's objection is that Trump is admitting that he has no interest - or no ability - to remember or write down how he would rebut Biden’s response.
The fact that the candidates’ mics will be muted during the final debate tomorrow night is a testament to where we are as a country on the verge of selecting the next President of the United States.
