"I am not going to do a virtual debate. I am not going to waste my time on a virtual debate."
– Donald Trump on Fox Business
Trump said that he will not participate in the second presidential debate with Joe Biden after the Commission on Presidential Debates said the event will be held virtually in the wake of the President's positive coronavirus diagnosis.
The scheduled town hall format will remain for the October 15 debate, but CPD said "in order to protect the health and safety of all involved," the candidates would participate remotely from separate locations. The moderator and attendees of the debate would ask Trump and Biden questions from Miami, the original site of the event.
Biden's campaign swiftly agreed to the virtual format. But Trump's comment throws the debate into question after the commission took the significant step to wholly remake the event. The move was seen as needed by members of the debate commission given the uncertainty around the President's health. The decision is supported by the Cleveland Clinic.
Bill Stepien, Trump's campaign manager, accused the commission on of "unilaterally canceling an in-person debate" to help Biden. Stepien said …
"For the swamp creatures at the Presidential Debate Commission to now rush to Joe Biden's defense by unilaterally canceling an in-person debate is pathetic.”
Instead of attending the debate, the Trump campaign said it will hold a rally.
"The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without canceling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head. We’ll pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead.”
The Biden campaign said that the former vice president will participate in the virtual event. The campaign said in a statement to ABC News on October 7 …
"Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to the American people and comparing his plan for bringing the country together and building back better with Donald Trump's failed leadership on the coronavirus that has thrown the strong economy he inherited into the worst downturn since the Great Depression."
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 to ensure, for the benefit of the American electorate, that general election debates between or among the leading candidates for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States are a permanent part of the electoral process. CPD’s primary purpose is to sponsor and produce the quadrennial general election debates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates. The organization, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) corporation, sponsored all of the presidential debates in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016.
To meet its ongoing goal of educating voters, the CPD is engaged in various activities beyond producing and sponsoring the presidential debates. Its staff prepares educational materials and conducts research to improve the quality of debates.
Trump has contracted COVID-19 likely due to his failure to comply with health guidelines on masking, social distancing, and avoiding large crowds. Now, though infected with the virus, he wants to control the debate process of the nonpartisan CPD and force his will on the Biden campaign. Saying he “wouldn't waste his time” and referring to the commission as “pathetic swamp creatures,” Trump typically denigrates those who disagree with his opinion. The egotistical bully once more demands his way.
The Truth of Trump's Refusal
What is the real reason Trump refuses to participate in this virtual debate? His well-documented, overriding and bullying presence is his calling card. He believes intimidation is his advantage. Remember the debate in 2016 when Trump prowled the stage and lurked behind Hillary Clinton like a predator? And, during the first debate in 2020, Trump repeatedly interrupted former Vice President Joe Biden when it was his turn to speak earning Trump the nickname of “The Man Who Wouldn't Shut Up.”
Trump's bullying began early in life. Gwenda Blair, author of The Trumps explains …
“It was also a climate amenable to the lessons of Fred Trump: Donald’s father’s overall message to his children was, and it was a very different message to the boys than to the girls … was compete, win, be a killer. Do what you have to do to win.”
Like most bullies Trump is obsessed with himself. He believes his presence will allow him to be more exalting and dominating. And, he thrives on public settings like his political rallies to feed his gigantic ego. Trump also sees any defense against COVID-19 as a weakness to his self-professed “warrior” image – part of this view is his belief that he is responsible for single-handedly defeating the disease. He believes he bullied this virus into nonexistence.
Trump has mistaken the adoration of a mask-defying crowd as a proxy for how the rest of the country feels about him.
Because Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had been heckled by one Trump supporter in Pittsburgh, Mr. Trump imagined there was some electoral prophecy in that moment.
“You don’t see that much,” Mr. Trump said in regard to heckling at his self-selected, mask-averse rallies. “I don’t want to bring it on, but you don’t see it anymore.”
Later at the rally, Trump debuted this quip:
“He [Biden] feels good about the mask, and that’s OK. Whatever makes you feel good, (He said to the crowd that had chosen to forgo both masks and social distancing to bask in his presidential weirdness.) Honestly, why the hell did he spend all that money on plastic surgery if he’s going to cover it up with a mask?”
(Tony Norman. “Confronting the bully who runs America.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 25, 2020.)
Trump believes he can shift the power dynamics of a debate through name calling and other aggressive tactics. He believes a virtual debate would rob him of this power posing.
It's time we stop saying, “That’s just Trump,” and call out the Bully-In-Chief. The bottom line is that Trump is AFRAID to agree to a virtual debate with Joe Biden. That fear rises out of his sense of entitlement producing anxiety when he feels he does not have absolute control.
Donald Trump suffers from a grandiose sense of self-importance and a need for excessive admiration. Consider how he continually uses photo ops to obtain attention – brandishing of a bible at St. John’s Church or taking a coronavirus joy ride at Walter Reed to greet fans. His narcissistic qualities are firmly ingrained, and he exhibits them in his political beliefs and in his everyday actions.
As a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person, Trump feels he cannot dominate a debate unless it is in-person and at a close distance where intimidation and confrontation are to his perceived advantage. Health and safety be damned. Trump's way or the highway. He'll just hold another infectious rally instead.
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