Trump Will Still Debate Despite New Mic-Muting Rule
The Trump campaign said a new microphone-muting policy is “biased,” but the president will still be there Thursday
Lindsey Ellefson | October 20, 2020 @ 6:23 AM
Last Updated: October 20, 2020 @ 6:33 AM
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President Trump’s campaign said he will still attend Thursday’s debate against Joe Biden after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced a new mic-muting rule for their final meet-up. On Monday, the commission said each candidate would speak uninterrupted for two minutes at the top of each 15-minute segment.
Late Monday night, Trump’s re-election campaign put out a statement that called the new rule “biased,” but affirms the incumbent candidate’s plan to attend.
“President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate,” said the statement. “This was supposed to be the foreign policy debate, so the President still looks forward to forcing Biden to answer the number one relevant question of whether he’s been compromised by the Communist Party of China.”
The statement went on to list foreign policy questions Trump hopes to ask Biden himself “if the media won’t.”
The new rule about muted microphones has little to do with questions the media will or will not ask. During Thursday’s debate, Trump and Biden will both be given two minutes of uninterrupted speaking time at the beginning of each 15-minute block. During each candidate’s allotted two minutes, the other candidate’s microphone will be muted.
Trump pulled out of the second debate with Democratic nominee Biden earlier this month after the bipartisan commission made the event virtual due to Trump’s recent COVID-19 test.
During the first debate back in September, Trump was widely panned on both sides of the aisle for incessantly interrupting his rival.
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12 Trump Tweets About the Coronavirus That Are Super Awkward Right Now (Photos)
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, which makes looking back on some of his tweets over the past 10 months pretty... ironic.
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On Jan. 24, the president was sure "it will all work out well." He even personally thanked China's President Xi.
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On March 18, he assured us that he "always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously."
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On May 24, he said mail-in ballots would create a "rigged election... Trying to use Covid for this Scam!"
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On May 25, he claimied "great reviews" on his handling of COVID-19, "sometimes referred to as the China Virus."
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Here's a gem from May 28: "All over the World the CoronaVirus, a very bad 'gift' from China, marches on. Not good!"
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On June 15, he complained that the "Far Left Fake News Media" is trying to "Covid Shame us on our big Rallies." This topic came up again few months later, at the first presidential debate, when Trump bragged that there has been "no negative effect" from his 35,000-40,000 person, largely-maskless, mid-pandemic outdoor rallies.
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Months before the U.S. deaths surpassed 200,000, Trump tweeted on June 25, "Coronavirus deaths are way down. Mortality rate is one of the lowest in the World."
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On July 5, Trump was still blaming the rise in COVID-19 cases to "massive testing" and that death numbers are down "low and steady," whatever that means.
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On July 6, Trump lamented that the "Lamestream Fake News Media REFUSE to say that China Virus deaths are down 39%." In September, the country reached 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus.
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Eight days after wearing a mask in public for the first time, he declared that "many people say that it is very Patriotic" to wear a mask on July 20.
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This one is particularly ironic. On Sept. 3, Trump criticized "Sleepy Joe Hiden'" for sitting back "in his basement and criticizes every move we make on the China Virus. DOING GREAT JOB!"
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On Sept. 18, Trump bragged that he had done "an incredible job" with the "China virus" than Biden did with the Swine flu pandemic in 2009.
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The President and first lady tested positive for the virus Friday
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, which makes looking back on some of his tweets over the past 10 months pretty... ironic.