Why The Pressing Need For CNN’s Thursday Televised ‘Debate’?

Surely the first debate of the two presumed presidential candidates in the 2024 Election deserve more than a flippant coin toss.

“The debate, which will be hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta on June 27, will mark the first in-person showdown of the 2024 campaign between President Joe Biden and his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Both candidates have accepted the network’s invitation and agreed to accept the rules and format of the debate, as outlined in letters sent to the campaigns by the network in May.” (CNN, June 15, 2024)

Just for starters, Tapper and Bash are confirmed Donald J. Trump haters.

“The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, according to the network, and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time. (CNN)

“Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. While no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.”

There will be no live audience, no way of preventing any potential skulduggery of Fake News CNN, followed by major Google suppression of ALL conservative reports.

What could possibly go wrong?

The Washington Post is already in on the act.”

“Forget conventional wisdom. Trump needs the debate more than Biden. (Washington Post, June 23, 2024)

"The debate will show voters who has the discipline to win and be a decent president. 

“There’s the romantic view of presidential debates, and there’s the realist’s view. Viewers of Thursday’s debate between President Biden and former president Donald Trump would do well to be realists.”

Nothing like being told in advance how to watch the debate by a news outlet, who gets to set the terms on “realist” views.

“Do not expect bursts of eloquence that will live on in history. Pay attention instead to which of these men better understands whom he needs to talk to. This will show you who has the discipline to win and be a decent president. (Washington Post)

Well, WaPo, it didn’t work for Joe Biden when elected back in 2020.

“Debates are not about everyone watching. Many will absorb it the way I took in the glorious Boston Celtics playoff run: as partisans rooting unreservedly for victory, cheering every great moment and worrying about every mistake.To the extent that partisans matter at all, they are likely to be Democrats who need constant hand-holding and reassurance that Biden can prevail. (Washington Post)

True, “Debates are not about everyone watching”. They are about the rabid media spin generated tsunami-like immediately after the debate’s conclusion.

“This, along with the 78-year-old Trump’s months-long denigration of Biden’s capacities at age 81, sets a low bar for Biden’s performance. Given his success at other big moments, such as his State of the Union addresses, he is likely to meet or surpass it. But there is a trap here for Biden, too: Because the “age issue” has been raised relentlessly against him, the media have a tendency to overlook or downplay Trump’s many moments of incoherence and even lunacy. Biden and his lieutenants must turn this side-by-side performance into an opportunity to have the two men judged by the same standards.” (Washington Post)

“The media have a tendency to overlook or downplay Trump’s many moments of incoherence and even lunacy”?

When, pray tell, was that?

“Biden also needs to be more forward- than backward-looking. A bread-and-butter program for his second term — for example, more drug price caps, day care and elder care, child tax credits, and housing affordability — would appeal to many of the constituencies still on the fence. Biden would like nothing better than to persuade voters of how good his economic performance is compared with that of other national leaders and to argue his investment programs have lifted working- and middle-class voters more than anything Trump did. But expect the president to be disciplined enough to resist the temptation to make the debate primarily about his record. He knows he wins the election if it’s primarily about Trump.”(Washington Post)

“This suggests that the conventional wisdom about this debate — that it’s more important for Biden — is wrong. A June 14-17 Fox News poll shows why: It gives Biden a two-point lead, but he is up by five points among the three-quarters of voters who say it matters “a great deal” to them who wins (they are more likely to vote) and by 11 points among the “double haters” who have an unfavorable view of both candidates. (Washington Post)

“Trump needs to energize more voters, constrain himself to look reasonable, hide his love of conspiracy theories and not make the debate about himself. Count me as skeptical that he can pull this off.”

Thursday’s CNN debate was able to skate right past Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., co-founder of the Commission on Presidential Debates and former Republican National Committee chair, who told Newsmax he's uneasy about the rules ahead of CNN's debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. (NewsMax, June 22, 2024)

Detractors will claim it’s conspiracy to wonder what else could be happening during the 90-minute debate.

Will Mar-A-Lago be raided again?

Will Trump’s family be safe?

And what about a Secret Service sweep at the debate premises to assure there is no potential physical danger to Trump?

Does it strike anybody else as “odd” that this CNN Debate is taking place a mere two weeks before Trump’s imminent sentencing in New York?

In conclusion, it’s been three horrific long years of people watching the Obama-led Biden regime in action.

It is clear that Americans know what they want, and a CNN debate cannot possibly change that.

The burning question is not who will win the debate—but why the pressing NEED for Thursday’s debate.