Trump, positive for COVID-19, says won't participate in virtual debate

[snoop1130]

Trump, positive for COVID-19, says won't participate in virtual debate

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participate in their first 2020 presidential campaign debate held on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., September 29, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not participate in a virtual debate, throwing into doubt the second presidential debate between Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, scheduled for Oct. 15.

 

His words came moments after the commission that oversees the debates said the event would be conducted from remote locations in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis.

 

"That's not acceptable to us," Trump said on a phone call with Fox Business, adding he thought the virtual format would allow the moderator to cut him off.

 

Trump said he would not attend the debate if he was contagious but that he thinks he is now well enough to hold campaign rallies.

 

The Commission on Presidential Debates said the debate would remain a town hall-style conversation and that voters and the moderator will ask the candidates questions from the original debate site in Miami.

 

The Biden campaign welcomed the move.

 

"Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to the American people and comparing his plan for bringing the country together and building back better with Donald Trump's failed leadership on the coronavirus that has thrown the strong economy he inherited into the worst downturn since the Great Depression," said deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield.

 

The news came a day after the sole vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, who clashed repeatedly over the Trump administration's response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 210,000 Americans.

 

Biden and Harris will travel together to the battleground state of Arizona on Thursday, while Pence will also visit the Southwestern state after starting his day in Nevada. Trump, who revealed a week ago that he had tested positive for coronavirus, remains sidelined from the campaign trail.

 

The first Trump-Biden debate was chaotic, with Trump repeatedly talking over his rival and the moderator, leading some to call for the moderator to have the option of muting participants' microphones in future matchups. It was not immediately clear how the virtual format would work.

 

Pence, in his debate on Wednesday, defended Trump's record on the pandemic and other issues under sharp attack by Harris, who said Trump's failures had cost American lives. The quiet, mostly civil debate was a sharp contrast to the combative encounter between Trump and Biden.

 

With less than four weeks to go until the November election - and more than 5 million votes already cast - the vice presidential debate was unlikely to change many minds in a contest dominated by voter reactions to Trump and Biden.

 

Nevada and Arizona, where the candidates will travel on Thursday, are critical swing states in the Nov. 3 election. Biden has led Trump consistently in national polls, but polls show a tighter race in many of the states that will decide the election.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-08

 

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[stevenl]

He saw the writing on the wall.

[2 is 1]

17 minutes ago, stevenl said:

He saw the writing on the wall.

Are you sure he can read!? Maybe he can choose coca cola pic on oval office wall! But he don't want join coz maybe can't shout all the time!

Edited October 8, 2020 by 2 is 1

[stevenl]

Just now, 2 is 1 said:

Are you sure he can read!?

I said he saw it, didn't say he read it.

 

But sounds to me he was afraid of a for him even more disastrous debate. 

[impulse]

24 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"That's not acceptable to us," Trump said on a phone call with Fox Business, adding he thought the virtual format would allow the moderator to cut him off.

 

I love the idea of enforcing the rules of the debate.  Turn off one guy's microphone during the other guy's 2 minutes.  Then let 'em rip at each other for 2 more minutes before the next question.

 

Of course, you can only do that if they're not within earshot of each other.

 

[bannork]

Come on Mr Trump, don't run away. Stay positive.

[ThreeEyedRaven]

52 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"That's not acceptable to us," Trump said on a phone call with Fox Business, adding he thought the virtual format would allow the moderator to cut him off.

The moderator is there for a reason, to keep things orderly and fair. Playing by the rules though is not acceptable to him? Well that's hardly news, but it does show that he has to feel he is able to cheat and gain an unfair advantage before he will participate.

TBH, I think 70% of the country has heard more than enough from him already, so him chickening out is a blessing for the majority. Just a few more weeks and hopefully the whole world can start to move forward and leave the nastiness of the last 4 years behind.

[Morch]

59 minutes ago, stevenl said:

He saw the writing on the wall.

 

On a closer look, we may find out it was a blank wall.

[ChouDoufu]

12 minutes ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

The moderator is there for a reason, to keep things orderly and fair. Playing by the rules though is not acceptable to him? Well that's hardly news, but it does show that he has to feel he is able to cheat and gain an unfair advantage before he will participate.

TBH, I think 70% of the country has heard more than enough from him already, so him chickening out is a blessing for the majority. Just a few more weeks and hopefully the whole world can start to move forward and leave the nastiness of the last 4 years behind.

 

not likely.

 

once he loses the election will be the most dangerous time.  imagine how vindictive the petty, little man be when he realizes he lost!  his goal will be to

...make america suffer again.

[Kadilo]

On his health, Mr Trump said: "I'm back because I'm a perfect physical specimen."
 

????

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not participate in a virtual debate,

Coward, what’s up...your bone spurs hurting?

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

That's not acceptable to us," Trump said on a phone call with Fox Business, adding he thought the virtual format would allow the moderator to cut him off.

You mean you’d have to follow the rules...oh dear, scared of the consequences of that..

[PattayaJames]

Trump landslide Incoming! 

[Meat Pie 47]

1 hour ago, Kadilo said:

On his health, Mr Trump said: "I'm back because I'm a perfect physical specimen."
 

????

Yes and he also said he is glad god gave him the virus so he could prove

he could heal himself.

[Kadilo]

4 minutes ago, PattayaJames said:

Trump landslide Incoming! 

Only if he falls over. 

[Meat Pie 47]

3 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Only if he falls over. 

He may have won a personal battle against the coronavirus, but Donald Trump is tipped to take an absolute hammering in the US Presidential Election in less than 30 days.

 

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/donald-trump-will-lose-2020-us-presidential-election-by-a-landslide-according-to-almost-all-us-polls/news-story/f5a6c223b29f475b897a557245b9ba6d

[Kadilo]

1 minute ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

He may have won a personal battle against the coronavirus, but Donald Trump is tipped to take an absolute hammering in the US Presidential Election in less than 30 days.

 

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/donald-trump-will-lose-2020-us-presidential-election-by-a-landslide-according-to-almost-all-us-polls/news-story/f5a6c223b29f475b897a557245b9ba6d

Let’s hope so. He’s an embarrassment. He makes Boris look (almost) competent. 

Edited October 8, 2020 by Kadilo

[PattayaJames]

Seems like you all learnt nothing from 2016.

[Meat Pie 47]

Just now, PattayaJames said:

Seems like you all learnt nothing from 2016.

Yes and the handful Trump supporter never will

[johnray]

He only tweets out trash talk online can't be going to conferences online as well that would be crazy. 

 

Also, he knows he has no chance of being reelected now, so he's just sitting back and collecting the last few pay checks.

Edited October 8, 2020 by johnray

[Meat Pie 47]

2 minutes ago, johnray said:

He only tweets out trash talk online can't be going to conferences online as well that would be crazy. 

 

Also, he knows he has no chance of being reelected now, so he's just sitting back and collecting the last few pay checks.

Yeah and when he get kicked out he need a few more paychecks to pay some

of his taxes.

[asiacurious]

50 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

54 minutes ago, PattayaJames said:

Trump landslide Incoming! 

Only if he falls over. 

I think it's going to be much closer than people think, and I think Trump still has a good chance of winning.

 

And remember, if he wins it will have been an honest win (even though "they" tried to steal it).  If he loses, it will have been because of fraud, and he won't stand idly by.

[PattayaJames]

7 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Yeah and when he get kicked out he need a few more paychecks to pay some

of his taxes.

He donates 100% of his paychecks  

[Kadilo]

2 minutes ago, PattayaJames said:

He donates 100% of his paychecks  

What a hero. Where does he donate his tax?

[smylee52]

After 4 years Trump has managed to :

 

Make  America  Grab  it;s  Ankles  .

 

 

[meechai]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

Coward, what’s up...your bone spurs hurting?

Perhaps a  virtual coward?

Because he does want a live debate?

 

So who is the live coward here?

 

Only the so called "New normal" would see one refusing a "virtual" anything and preferring

a live version as running away.

 

This "new normal" is bizzarro world thinking.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by meechai

[sucit]

Forget the debates. Give them both a pogo stick and whoever goes longer is president. 

[Bluespunk]

31 minutes ago, meechai said:

Perhaps a  virtual coward?

Because he does want a live debate?

 

So who is the live coward here?

 

Only the so called "New normal" would see one refusing a "virtual" anything and preferring

a live version as running away.

 

This "new normal" is bizzarro world thinking.

 

 

No, trump would back out of any situation where he would be prevented from interrupting another. 
 

The reason why...he’s a coward who won’t face up to any scrutiny, be it his taxes or four years of misrule or betrayal of his wives or abuse of other women or the lies he used to avoid serving his country. 

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Donald Trump is tipped to take an absolute hammering in the US Presidential Election in less than 30 days

Sounds familiar, many people said the same thing last time

[MajarTheLion]

I wonder why Joe Biden is afraid to debate in person.