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The Commission for Presidential Debates of the United States announced this Thursday that the second debate between the president Donald trump and his rival in the race for the White House, Joe Biden, it will be virtual.
This was reported by CNN, after Trump spent this weekend hospitalized after becoming infected with COVID-19, raising concerns due to the recommended 2-week isolation time for those who contract the disease.
The decision was made “in order to protect the health and safety of all those involved,” the commission said in a statement, adding that the candidates “would participate from two remote locations” in the debate to be held on October 15.
However, immediately after the new terms were known, Donald Trump announced that he would not participate. “I am not going to waste my time in a virtual debate. That is not what a debate is about, it is ridiculous, “he said in an interview with Fox Business. “It is unacceptable for us,” added the Republican candidate for a second term.
Trump accused the bipartisan commission that organizes him of “protecting” his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, from the Biden campaign they said that the Democratic candidate “hopes to speak directly with the American people.”
While presidential debates in the United States are traditional, nothing forces candidates to participate. For example, in 1980 Jimmy Carter refused to debate and only agreed to do so 9 days before the election with Ronald Reagan.
Despite how modern the idea of a distance debate may seem, the New York Times notes, there are precedents: in 1960, the third debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon was remote, with the first participating from New York and the second from Los Angeles.
Both were filmed on similar television sets, and broadcast simultaneously on a split screen, while the debate moderator, Bill Shadel of ABC News, operated from a third studio in Chicago.
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