In an unusual move, the five major broadcast and cable news networks have prepared a joint open letter urging President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to participate in televised debates before Election Day, according to two people with direct knowledge of their plans. .
The letter, endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News, asks the public a question that has been swirling in the media and political circles: whether the presidential debates, one of the last remaining mass civic rituals in the country in a polarized era, it will happen this year.
“We, the undersigned national news organizations, urge the presumptive presidential candidates to publicly commit to participating in the general election debates before the November election,” the letter says, according to a draft version obtained by The New York Times.
The letter has not yet been finalized and the networks are also seeking support from other major national news organizations, including newspapers.
Biden has repeatedly refused to commit to participating in the three debates scheduled for September and October. Her aides say she worries that the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group that has organized the broadcasts since 1988, won’t be able to enforce the rules when Trump takes the stage.
Trump has promised to debate and has begun mocking Biden for not doing the same. But Trump’s record is mixed: In 2020, he pulled out of a debate against Biden at the last minute, prompting its cancellation, and in the recent Republican primary he refused to appear on stage, even once, with their opponents.
The television networks’ letter was organized in response to current uncertainty, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions about an ongoing effort.
“General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy and have played a vital role in every presidential election of the past 50 years, dating back to 1976,” the draft letter reads. “In each of those elections, tens of millions have tuned in to watch the candidates debate side by side, in a competition of ideas, for the votes of American citizens.”
Contacted on Tuesday, the five television networks did not comment or referred to the text of the letter.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced dates, venues and eligibility requirements for this year’s matchups. “While it is too early to invite any candidate, it is not too early for candidates who hope to meet the eligibility criteria to publicly declare their support and intention to participate in the commission debates planned for this fall. ”the draft letter says.
“If there is one thing Americans can agree on, during this polarized time, it is that the stakes in this election are exceptionally high,” the letter continues. “There is simply no substitute for candidates debating their visions for the nation’s future with each other and before the American people.”
If no debate occurred this year, it would be a sea change for the modern presidential campaign cycle. In every election since 1976, Americans have watched at least one live televised meeting between the leading contenders.
The debates are by far the most-watched moments of a presidential campaign, and in an increasingly partisan media environment, they offer a rare opportunity for candidates to go head-to-head without the presence of pundits or sycophants. They are also simulcast on all major cable and broadcast networks, a throwback to a more quaint media era when Americans absorbed information from the same set of news sources.
The Biden campaign has not ruled out accepting the debates, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions, who requested anonymity to share details intended to be private. But the campaign sees no advantage in publicly committing to participate so early in the year, the person said.
Biden’s team was also outraged in 2020 over the proceedings during the first presidential debate in Cleveland. A former aide said Trump tested positive for the coronavirus several days before the event, during which Trump stood several feet away from Biden. The debate commission had established medical testing protocols that Biden’s advisers believe Trump managed to circumvent.
That debate was notably chaotic, with Trump refusing to follow the instructions of the moderator, Chris Wallace, and frequently speaking over Biden. This led the debate commission to modify its rules for the final debate of 2020, allowing a producer to mute each candidate’s microphone while his rival spoke.
Several of Biden’s closest advisers are long-time critics of the Commission on Presidential Debates. Anita Dunn, who heads Biden’s communications strategy, was a lead organizer of a 2015 report that called for a complete restructuring of the presidential debate system. That report, co-authored by Ron Klain, Biden’s former White House chief of staff, argued that the format of the commission’s debate should be changed to reflect a more modern media environment.
Trump has tried to capitalize on Biden’s reluctance to commit to the debates. “It is important, for the sake of our country, that Joe Biden and I debate issues that are so vital to America and the American people,” he wrote in a Super Tuesday post on Truth Social. “Therefore, I call for debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYWHERE!” (Random capitalization is verbatim.)
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, repeated that promise Tuesday, adding, in a statement, that “Biden will not get away with the basement routine this time.”
In the past, Trump has criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates, accusing it of having a pro-Democratic bias and claiming, without evidence, that the commission jammed his microphone in 2016. Trump also supported a GOP pledge to boycott future debates hosted by the commission, although that stance appears to have softened.
“The debates may be run by the corrupt Democratic National Committee, or its subsidiary, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD),” Trump wrote in his Super Tuesday post. In fact, the commission is an independent, nonpartisan entity with no ties to the Democratic Party.
Biden’s campaign on Tuesday addressed Biden’s previous comments about the debates. When asked by a reporter in March if he would debate Trump, the president responded: “It depends on his behavior.” He has also joked about Trump’s demands for a debate, saying: “If I were him, I’d want to debate me too. He has nothing else to do.”
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, one of Biden’s closest allies, invoked the chaotic Cleveland debate when asked about the issue last month on CNN. “Donald Trump simply broke every possible rule or regulation of decency or decorum,” Coons said. Pressed by Jake Tapper on whether Biden should debate this year, Coons was wrong. “I think that’s up to him,” he said.
The format of the debates is not very different from the first televised fights, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. And although some media events such as the Oscars and the Grammys have decreased in audience, Americans still tune in to the debates. in huge numbers: Trump’s first debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016 is the highest-rated on record, with 84 million people watching. In 2020, an average of 68 million people watched the Biden-Trump debates, far exceeding audiences for political conventions or a State of the Union address.
