On the Debate Rules
Published at 16:07 on 17 June 2024
CNN has released a summary of the rules for the upcoming Trump/Biden debate on the 27th. Some comments:
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.
So it’s pretty obvious that the mike for Candidate A will be dead whenever it is Candidate B’s turn to speak. This means no more interrupting by Trump. Sort of a surprise that Trump would agree to this, and I would expect Trump and the sheep who follow him to bleat about “censorship” post-debate because of it.
That’s assuming Trump even shows up, of course, but given that his team has agreed to these rules, my money is on him showing up. If he believed beforehand the rules rigged the debate against him, he simply wouldn’t agree to them, and there would be no debates scheduled.
What’s not so obvious is what happens when a candidate runs past his allotted time to speak.
Ideally, the mikes should be on an automated timer, with a count-down clock, visible to both the audience and each speaker, showing time remaining. The instant it goes to 0:0.000, down to the millisecond, the mike gets cut. If it gets cut mid-syllable, so be it. Should have paid better attention to the clock.
Anything less than the above, and Trump will abuse the situation to gain an unfair advantage by speaking more than his opponent.
Some aspects of the debate – including the absence of a studio audience – will be a departure from previous debates. But, as in the past, the moderators “will use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion,” according to the network.
Second part first: don’t make me laugh by writing such whoppers, CNN. Lax enforcement of rules made the so-called moderators putty in Trump’s hands four years ago. They let Trump interrupt Biden, contrary to the rules, over and over and over again. This, CNN, is why I suspect your moderators will let Trump run over. The only thing I will trust is cold, hard, simple, merciless technology. Use an automated timer or Trump will repeatedly run over time.
Regarding the lack of an audience, this is probably to Biden’s advantage. Trump feeds on crowds in a way that Biden simply does not.