As Joe Biden tried (and failed) to put on his best script possible in his official debate against Donald Trump on Wednesday morning, behind-the-scenes details reveal what Biden’s team is demanding a very nervous and frightened incumbent wants , that everything is controlled, right down to the type of audience.
A letter written by Biden’s campaign co-chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and sent to the Commission on Presidential Debates (which she bypasses) lays out how Biden officials are controlling the media outlets likely to host and host the debates. want to entrust them with the processing.
He doesn’t want a live audience, the microphones will be turned off once the person’s time is up and while the other person is speaking, only certain news organizations will moderate it, and no RFK Jr.:
The Biden campaign’s letter lays out for the first time the president’s terms for giving Mr. Trump what he has openly demanded: a televised confrontation with a successor that Mr. Trump has portrayed as too faint to retain , and hopes to reveal work. In a Truth Social post on Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump quickly agreed to the two dates proposed by the Biden campaign, although it was unclear whether he would agree to Mr. Biden’s other terms.
Mr. Biden and his top aides want the debates to begin much earlier than the dates suggested by the Commission on Presidential Debates so that voters can see the two candidates side by side well before early voting begins in September. They want the debate to take place in a television studio, with microphones that automatically turn off when a speaker’s time limit expires. And they want it to be just the two candidates and the moderator — without the raucous in-person audience that Mr. Trump feeds on, and without the participation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or other independent or third-party candidates.
“A candidate’s microphone should only be active when it is their turn to speak to promote compliance and orderly conduct,” the letter also states.
Citing the way the debates were conducted in 2020, the Biden campaign stated that they would only consider a few media outlets acceptable to host the debates:
Under the parameters set by the Biden campaign, the first debate was to be moderated by each broadcast organization that monitored a 2016 Republican primary debate in which Mr. Trump participated and a 2020 Democratic primary debate in which Mr. Biden participated CBS News, ABC News, CNN and Telemundo fit these terms. Telemundo and CNN hosted a Republican primary debate that Trump attended in 2016.
The latest news on the Biden debate today:
Biden refuses to debate Trump in front of an audience of voters.
His campaign is calling for major guardrails for Biden, including:
– No audience.
– No RFK Jr.
– No remarks from Trump during Biden’s answers.
– Only Biden-friendly outlets &…— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) May 15, 2024
As RedState previously reported, Biden has given his superiors nightmares in recent weeks by teasing that he would be willing to debate depending on Trump’s “behavior.”
As we have also documented, Biden and his campaign appear to be in complete denial of the poll numbers that show Biden consistently in trouble with Trump. The staff and Biden himself believe that Biden is at least on par with Trump, if not ahead of him in the polls.
As my colleague Ward Clark noted, this suggests the Biden team is in panic mode at this point, which may have prompted them to issue the debate challenges, perhaps to try to make Biden appear confident and ready to fight.
The problem with this strategy, as I mentioned, is that Joe Biden’s worst enemy will always be Joe Biden. Because ultimately, it is Biden who will have to do the challenging work of convincing voters to give him another four years, not his handlers. Of course, this is proving to be an increasingly challenging task, especially now that the toothpaste is out of the tube.
Related–>> WATCH: Aides quickly fan out as ‘Operation Hide Joe Biden’ goes a step further
