President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will not participate in the second debate with Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger, shortly after the organizing body announced that the October 15 event would take place virtually.
The two campaigns tried to rescue the debates in a continuous exchange of statements.
“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” Trump, who is convalescing from Covid-19, said in an interview with Fox Business. “I am not going to waste time in a virtual debate. That’s not what the debate is about. You sit behind a computer and have a debate, that’s ridiculous. “
Then the Trump campaign suggested two in-person debates: a second debate delayed on October 22, when the third and final debate would take place, and pushing the third debate to October 29.
The Biden campaign, which accepted the virtual debate on October 15, also consented to have it moved to October 22 and conducted in person. But he rejected the suggestion to hold the third debate on October 29, saying: “We hope to participate in the final debate, scheduled for October 22, which is already tied for the last debate date in 40 years. Donald Trump may appear or he may decline again. That is your choice. ”
The Commission on Presidential Debates, an independent body that has been conducting presidential and vice-presidential debates for decades, announced Thursday morning that “to protect the health and safety of all those involved,” the second presidential debate scheduled for October 15 “will take the form of a city meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations ”.
The third debate is scheduled for October 22, less than fifteen days before the close of voting on November 3, according to the original schedule.
The commission did not cite details, but there were concerns that President Trump was already infected in the first debate, which was held on September 29. He and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the disease on October 1, which was confirmed by more elaborate testing the next day.
Calls to shift upcoming debates, including for the vice president, to virtual events, peaked after the president’s hospitalization.
He has since returned to the White House to recover, but has been eager to get out, claiming that he is no longer contagious. “I’m back because I’m a perfect physical specimen,” he said in the fox interview.
The president also called Sen. Kamala Harris a “monster,” a “communist,” and “disgusting” for her comments in the debate with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday night.
The vice presidential debate on Wednesday night was in person, but Pence and Harris were separated by Plexiglass to minimize the chances of exposure to Covid.
Pence has tested negative, but the White House has become a “hot spot” with an increase in infections.
The Trump administration’s handling of the deadliest health crisis in more than 100 years dominated the vice presidential debate, with Harris further cementing her place in American history as the first woman of color and Indian-American of any gender. to participate in such an event. , landing the first hit.
“The American people have witnessed the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said, responding to a question in the first segment of the debate, held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Utah.
“I want the American people to know that from day one, President Donald Trump has put America’s health first,” said Pence, defending himself and Trump as head of the White House task force appointed by the president to lead the fight. against the pandemic.
Despite the underlying tensions, Harris and Pence debated calmly, unlike their respective candidates, Biden and Trump, whose debate had turned to insults.
With 210,000 deaths, more than 7 million infections, and President Trump, the first lady, and a growing number of people in their circle testing positive, Covid-19 was the main topic in the debate. They also clashed over the Covid-19 vaccine, climate change, the trade war with China, the economy, racism, health care, the Supreme Court, women’s right to abortion, and religion.
As a running mate on a ticket that leads national polls by a wide margin, Harris was expected to play it safe and not give the Trump campaign a lifeline. He did just that, overlooking many opportunities to attack Pence, much to the disappointment of supporters who expected to see flashes of his abilities as a prosecutor.
“The debate was civil and constructive compared to the presidential debate,” said MR Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora, a leading Indian-American advocacy group. “Kamala and Pence expressed their positions with passion and now we have 27 days to decide.”
Puneet Ahluwalia, a Republican running for lieutenant governor in Virginia, a state that used to be a Republican but has recently come to be considered a Democrat, said that “Vice President Pence clearly distinguished himself by highlighting the exemplary work done for the American people by the President Trump and his administration. “
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