“Will you shut up, man?”
That memorable Joe Biden line from the first 2020 presidential debate sums up my thoughts perfectly on the possibility of debates in 2024: just shut-up about it. Debates are for normal political campaigns. This Biden-Trump race is anything but normal.
Nine-plus years into the Trump phenomenon, it’s no secret that the mainstream media have not figured out how to consistently report the truth in the face of his fire hose of lies. Time after time, they end up platforming B.S. and normalizing behaviors no healthy democracy should tolerate. Just look at that “toe-curling” CNN town hall or disastrous “Meet the Press” taped interview from just last year, where journalists failed to hold Trump accountable. No, these news organizations cannot hold an even-handed, credible presidential debate.
To be clear, Joe Biden has nothing to fear from a debate with Mr. Trump. Four years ago, Mr. Trump was so unhinged, so eager to shout down any utterance that did not conform to his twisted view of the world that Americans were appalled. After Trump interrupted a record 128 times in that first debate, the moderator for the second debate used a mute button to help control things. Trump’s handlers also clearly advised their candidate to tame his outbursts.
Meanwhile, Biden had full command of the issues and the facts, so there’s no question those debates were ultimately good for the Biden campaign. But this time, there is another calculation that must be made: not whether debates would be good for one candidate or the other, but whether debates will be good for America.
Here, the major media have it all wrong. This weekend, our leading news organizations (given all the players, I use the term loosely) joined forces to call for presidential debates. They co-signed a letter that says:
“If there is one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high. Amidst that backdrop, there is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation.”
It is a shameful admission of their own failure. What America needs — and has needed since Mr. Trump descended the escalator to announce his bid for the presidency in 2015 — is a news media that holds the powerful to account and holds truth as its north star. Utterly unable to do that, they now hope Mr. Biden will do it for them.
Any reporter you ask will tell you this is not an ordinary time. Yet these news companies act as if nothing is out of the ordinary, as if a debate will offer the public a clear view of the candidates’ positions on issues. Nonsense. The Republican Party doesn’t even have a platform. Frankly, nothing about Trump and the era of politics he ushered in is normal. As Molly Jong Fast writes in Vanity Fair:
“None of this is normal. None of this is how American democracy is supposed to work. Trump is not a normal candidate, despite how the media often covers him. He has autocratic ambitions, having told supporters, “I am your retribution,” and has promised to be a “dictator”—a dictator!—on “day one” in the office.”
NBC, ABC, AP and the rest must know that their debate plea is at best disingenuous. They must know that they are not really asking for a debate, but rather for a cage match. They must know Mr. Trump will make any debate a crazed free-for- all, as he does with every Trump rally, interview and town hall to this point.
Facts? Policies? Voter concerns? A vision for the future? Heck no. Name calling? Lies? Threats? Hell yes. Are those what America needs to make up its mind about who is best suited to lead the country? No.
I’d hate to think that this is about ratings, but right now, that seems as likely a motive as any commitment to news. A Biden-Trump “debate” would be a worldwide extravaganza. It would be like the Olympics for politics, with weeks of pre-debate coverage, features stories on the participants and then blanket live coverage across all of the platforms involved.
But that’s still no reason to go forward with a Biden-Trump debate. Mr. Trump has proven to be a dangerous authoritarian who doesn’t deserve — and doesn’t expect — to be cloaked in anything resembling a normal political campaign. Debates are rules-based discussions. Mr. Trump breaks the rules (and apparently the laws.) There’s no benefit to the nation to create a massive additional platform for him to hijack.
Equally, our mainstream media is not up to the job of Biden v. Trump 2.0. Just look at the Sunday shows and how those hosts frequently fail to hold liars to account. Look at NBC News, which was more than happy to compromise its news brand by cozying up to Trump’s false elector co-conspirator Ronna McDaniel. And look at the overwhelming amount of “both sides” and false equivalence news coverage coming from The New York Times and others. Plus, there’s the likelihood that at least one of the chosen news talents for such a “debate” would come from the Fox propaganda outlet because we need “viewpoint diversity” more than we need facts, right?
I agree with long-time journalist James Fallows, who writes: “Presidential ‘debates’ have become purely performative — counterparts to Survivor or Bachelor or, in Trump’s case, his shaving Vince McMahon’s head at WrestleMania. This is 1000x true for any ‘debate’ involving Trump. Not the place for unified media “’stand.’”
Media critic Mark Jacob also makes an important point: “Presidential debates are a bad idea this year. Anytime you let a pathological liar on live TV, the liar has an advantage. You can’t fact-check them as quickly as they can lie. Also, we won’t learn anything new. TV people simply want a show, and they want to be part of it.”
In 2020, that first Biden-Trump debate was so chaotic and cringy that I could barely watch it. I’m not alone. The universal reaction at Trump’s behavior was one of horror and disgust.
“That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck. That was the worst debate I have ever seen. In fact, it wasn’t even a debate, said CNN’s Jake Tapper. The debate moderator, Chris Wallace, was also excoriated. Ana Navarro-Cárdenas of The View said: “Oh my God. Chris Wallace has totally lost control of this thing. He’s allowing Trump to behave like schoolyard bully, completely disrespecting the millions of Americans who tuned-in hoping to see a debate of ideas, and a plan to move America forward.”
Not surprisingly, there were questions about whether there should be another debate after that 2020 disaster and many people said no. We should say no again in 2024.
Jennifer Schulze is a former Chicago journalist who talks media every month on WCPT 820AM on “Live, Local & Progressive with Joan Esposito” with former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob. You can follow her on Threads @jenniferschulzechi or Twitter/X @NewsJennifer.