President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are slated to face off in a debate for the 2024 presidential election cycle, with the terms set out by the Biden campaign. The debate will take place on June 27 at CNN’s studio in Atlanta, with a second debate scheduled for September 10. Biden challenged Trump to the debate with a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, to which Trump accepted shortly after. The upcoming debate will have no live audience and the candidates’ microphones will be muted after their allotted time, a condition set by the Biden campaign.
Both candidates have exchanged jabs in the lead-up to the debate, with Biden making a remark about Trump’s day off from his criminal hush money trial in Manhattan and Trump calling Biden “the WORST debater I have ever faced.” Trump also jokingly mentioned that he would demand a drug test for Biden before the debate, a request he had made in the 2020 debates as well. Despite Trump’s claims, there is no evidence that Biden has used drugs before any of the debates.
Republican strategist and MSNBC political analyst Susan Del Percio praised Biden for setting the terms of the debate and stated that he “really got the best of Donald Trump.” She highlighted the key factors of no live audience and microphone limits as advantageous for Biden. The debate will be co-moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, with ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis serving as co-moderators for the fall debate.
The debates between Biden and Trump come as the presidential race is extremely close, with the latest national poll aggregation showing Trump leading Biden by 1 percentage point. The upcoming debates will mark the third time the two candidates have faced off, having debated twice during the 2020 presidential campaign. The debates are expected to be highly anticipated events, with both candidates likely preparing rigorously to make their case to the American public.
Del Percio commented on Trump’s tendency to work in chaos, stating that he struggles with facts and policies and instead deals in chaos. She criticized Trump’s approach to the debates and his focus on issues like drug testing, suggesting that he lacks a substantive argument. Despite Trump’s attempts to make the debates about topics like drug testing, the focus will ultimately be on the candidates’ policies and positions on key issues facing the country, making the upcoming debates a crucial moment in the 2024 presidential election cycle.
