President Biden and former President Trump are apparently ready to verbally rumble—without the assistance of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has been overseeing presidential debates since the late 1980s. As Politico reports, team Biden proposed two debates, one in June and another in September, with both to be orchestrated by the Trump and Biden campaigns instead of the independent commission. Trump's camp quickly accepted, and while details were initially murky, both campaigns quickly snapped up an offer from CNN for the first debate. What we know:
- Snub, I: Biden's campaign chair sent a letter to the commission outlining the reasons for bypassing it. Among them: Their scheduled debates take place too late, "after tens of millions of Americans will have already voted"; they're more spectacle than substantive; and the commission fails to enforce the rules. On the latter point, Politico notes that Trump repeatedly talked over both Biden and the moderators during the 2020 debates.