r/politics 4d ago

Trump Should Never Have Had This Platform Paywall

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/06/debate-trump-platform-january-6/678818/
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u/Old-Rhubarb-97 4d ago

The debate format did Biden no favours. Allowing Trump to go wildly off topic with his constant lies had Joe flailing to address the lies and the actual topic at the same time.

It is on the democrats for not being prepared for that, but also on CNN for the godawful moderation.

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u/wjta 4d ago

Biden’s team set the debate rules to try to control the narrative. They failed to do so.

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u/Old-Rhubarb-97 4d ago

I don't think that is true, both candidates had to agree to the rules.

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u/wjta 4d ago

Biden's team pushed for the mic muting, no crowd, etc. They both wanted no RFK Jr. Yes they had to agree to the rules. However that just recognizes that Trump compromised in order to make the debate happen because he knew the cognitive disparity would be on full display.

The rules just seemed to backfire and make Trump look composed and at least capable of forming an argument. Biden was hard to understand even with an empty studio and no interruptions.

This is also what they expected to happen. This is why this was the earliest debate ever. These guys aren't even officially nominated to run for office.