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Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has rejected calls to change the rules for the next two presidential debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden after the first chaotic event in Cleveland was marred by constant disruptions and outbursts.
Tuesday night’s debate, the first of three before the Nov. 3 election, saw Trump regularly interrupt and speak about both Biden and the moderator, prompting the U.S. presidential debating committee to announce that it would adopt changes to allow a “more orderly discussion”. The next presidential debate is scheduled for October 15 in Miami.
“We don’t want any change,” Trump’s senior campaign adviser Jason Miller said in a conference call with reporters.
Trump’s deputy campaign manager Max Miller said Biden’s campaign is pushing for opening and closing remarks and a silence button for when candidates ignore the structure of the debate.
Campaign manager Bill Stepien said it was “not history” for the commission to change the rules after a debate. The president also noted that he would oppose any rule changes.
“Why would I allow the debating committee to change the rules for the second and third debates when I won easily last time?” Trump asked in a tweet Thursday.
Miller said Trump would continue to appear in debates, but made it clear that the campaign would oppose any attempt to change the rules.
Both campaigns agreed on the format for Tuesday’s debate, which had provided for six 15-minute sections in which each candidate had two minutes to answer a question without interruption before starting a round trip.
The 90-minute standoff drew widespread criticism of Trump and, to a lesser extent, of Biden. The Republican president repeatedly harassed Biden and questioned his intelligence, while the Democratic candidate called Trump a racist, a liar and the worst president in history.
In a statement Wednesday, the debating committee said it would soon announce changes to the debating format.
Biden’s campaign spokesman, Andrew Bates, said the former vice president would participate in upcoming debates according to rules set by the debate commission.
“The only real question that remains is whether the president will begin to follow the rules in the next two debates,” Bates said in an email.
Trump also sparked widespread outrage on Tuesday when he refused to condemn white supremacists. On Thursday, John Roberts of Fox News asked White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany if he denounced white supremacy in all its forms on behalf of the president, who had told a far-right extremist group to “back off and stay out of it” during Tuesday’s debate.
McEnany declined to do so, instead reading past quotes from the president and attacking the media for asking about the controversy.
While Biden leads Trump in most national public opinion polls, polls also show the two are shoulder to shoulder in various states that could determine the winner of the contest.
More than 2 million voters have already cast their votes, and an increase in early and mail voting is expected this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden’s campaign announced Thursday that it will launch in-person counting efforts in several battlefield states. It comes as Trump’s campaign poll work has sparked concerns among some of Biden’s allies that Republicans outnumber Democrats on voter registration.
