Tonight’s general election debate faceoff between President Biden and former President Donald Trump breaks with tradition in many ways. It is very early in the year. It is also not happening under the auspices of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has run these events since 1988.
CNN is putting on the show, airing it on cable and free online . And thankfully, CNN is offering the program to anyone else who wants to broadcast it, as PBS is doing for those people who watch TV the old fashioned way without cable or internet. There is also no live audience.
Almost all of this is for the best. The general election is underway, so voters may as well have a chance to see Biden and Trump engage with one another, and hopefully with tough and intelligent questions from moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Live studio audiences work fine as stage-dressing, but it adds no value when they applaud or react in any other way.
They’re mostly a burden to keep quiet, so good riddance to them. Speaking of riddance, it’s also a very good thing that a crank named after Sen. Robert F.
Kennedy won’t be present to take time and attention and scrutiny away from these two men, one of whom will win in November. Polls show intense interest in the debate , which is healthy. This being a representative democracy, we can’t dictate how viewers will react.
But we have an obligation to share our five cents. Trump will lie and lie, and then he will lie and lie some more. We hope Biden or th.
