How Biden deprived Trump of a key debating asset

17 May 2024

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed to two presidential debates — one hosted by CNN in Atlanta on June 27, the second hosted by ABC News on September 10.

One of Biden's conditions for the two debates is that there will be no live audience — just the candidates and the moderators.

According to Politico's Jonathan Lemire, Biden's reelection team believes that an "empty studio" will "deprive their GOP rival of a major advantage when they face off."

A Biden adviser, presumably interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Politico, "Trump feeds off the crowd, they give him life. We wanted to take that away."

Trump, at his MAGA rallies, loves to work the crowd. But according to Democratic strategist/consultant and former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod, a controlled debate environment is an advantage for Biden.

Axelrod told Politico, "I think it does matter. I mean, if you watch Trump, that is a big part of how he energizes himself. And so, I think that it will have some impact on him that he can't play to the crowd and doesn't have that kind of energy — that sort of modular energy that a crowd offers."

Axelrod continued, "I think that the Biden people, they won in negotiations on three points: It's a debate without a crowd, it's a debate without any third-party candidates, and it's an early debate. And those three things make it about as good a situation as he's gonna get."

Read Jonathan Lemire's full report for Politico at this link.

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