WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump on Wednesday accepted an invitation from CNN to host the candidates’ first 2024 debate on June 27, setting up a high-stakes clash.
“As you said: anywhere, any time, any place,” Biden said on social media after the Democrat for the first time laid out his terms for taking on the former president on national television.
Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate.
Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again.
Well, make my day, pal. pic.twitter.com/AkPmvs2q4u
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 15, 2024
“President Trump has already accepted the CNN debate invitation for June 27,” Trump’s campaign managers said.
But differences between the two sides remained. Biden said he would participate in two debates, in June and September, while Trump called for more than two – and a very large venue “for excitement purposes.”
Biden’s proposal, the first formal offer by his campaign, ditched the decades-old tradition of three fall debates. Instead, it called for direct negotiations between the Trump and Biden campaigns over the rules, network hosts and moderators. He also proposed a separate vice presidential debate in July, after the Republican National Convention.
A debate is fraught with risks for both candidates, who face a tight race and low enthusiasm from voters.
Biden’s move shows he is willing to take a calculated risk to boost his opinion poll numbers in a race in which he is trailing Trump in key battleground states, as voters remain concerned about his age – 81 – and his handling of the economy. Trump is 77.
“Make my day, pal,” Biden said in a video message. “I’ll even do it twice.”
Trump responded to Biden by calling him “the worst debater” he has ever faced. “I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” he posted.
(REUTERS)
