As November and the upcoming presidential elections draw ever closer, the presidential debates loom right around the corner. But if President Trump has his way, they might be even sooner.
On Wednesday, the Trump campaign, via the President’s personal attorney and liaison between the presidential debate commission, Rudy Giuliani, requested that another debate be added to the schedule.
The additional debate would be held during the first week of September. However, if the commission refuses the offer, the Trump campaign asks that the last debate, which is currently scheduled for October 22, be moved up to the first week of September.
According to former New York City mayor, this is to give Americans the chance to see Biden and Trump debate each other before they actually begin voting.
Thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the near nationwide push for mass mail-in voting has only increased this year. However, due to the newness of mail-in voting, especially in such numbers, and the difficulties with it already seen in some states, the dates for voting or deadlines for ballots to be in the mail have been moved up. Some deadlines are as early as early September.
Which, according to Giuliani, means:
“By the time the first presidential debate on September 29, 2020, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, as many as eight million Americans in 16 states will have already started voting. By the time of the vice presidential debate on October 7, 2020, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, as many as 20 million Americans in 24 states will have already started voting.”
Giuliani continues, giving similar statistics for both the second and third presidential debates. It is noted by October 22, when the last scheduled debate is to take place, “as many as 49 million Americans” could have already voted.
The staggering number of votes that could have already been sent in by this time makes many, including Giuliani and Trump, wonder why the debates are even going on.
As Giuliani says in his request, “Simply put, the Commission’s current approach is an outdated dinosaur and not reflective of the voting realities in 2020.”
And we have to admit; it most certainly isn’t.
But will Biden and the Commission agree?
At first glance, it would seem that Trump is making this offer for no other reason than letting the nation watch Biden trip all over himself at the earliest date possible, especially since, according to some polls, Trump desperately needs something to boost his numbers.
It would also be assumed, based on that logic, that Biden would refuse the request. If Biden is worried about his debate performance, he would likely want a later debate, as this would allow millions of votes to already be cast, possibly in his favor, before he has the chance to screw it up.
However, there are reasons why he might also agree to the request.
Firstly, an acceptance of the request would continue his insistence that he is of sound mind and not afraid of Trump, as well as get him out of the basement. Secondly, going off of that erroneous idea, if he does well, it will confirm to his voters that he is, in fact, the man for the job.
Then, there is the need for him to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible during the very last weeks of the campaign, which according to the current schedule, begins immediately after the last debate.
If Biden were to debate badly in his last performance, it will be fresh in the minds of last-minute voters and will leave him very little time to make up for those mistakes. Having the ending debate be earlier would give him a chance to change late-deciders minds.
And lastly, as the voting process is bound to take longer and be more drawn out this year, an earlier debate may get voters moving more quickly, reminding them of the upcoming election and the need to vote. And this, in turn, would ensure the least number of ballots being denied because they were simply late.
Then again, logic and sound reasoning have never been a strong suit of either the DNC or Joe Biden, especially as of late. And there is already talk of him trying to get out of the debates as is.
This has only been confirmed in some’s mind, as he recently backed out of attending the DNC’s national convention in Milwaukee.
But who knows, he could surprise us all…
