The would-be Bernie Sanders vs. Donald Trump throwdown will only live on in the minds of comedy writers.
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In response to Trump’s sudden decision, Sanders said “I heard that he was going to debate me, then I heard that he was not going to debate me, then I heard that he was going to debate me”.
Bernie Sanders had a ready response to Donald Trump’s change of heart over a proposed debate.
If the drama over the on-again, off-again Trump-Sanders debate was the first skirmish of the Clinton-Trump general election battle, you can mark Mrs Clinton down as the victor. “I think it would get high ratings”, Trump added.
“I heard that he was gonna debate and now you’re telling me that he is not gonna debate me”.
Mr Trump suggested broadcast networks were unwilling to go along with his demand that at least $10 million raised from the encounter be donated to charity.
Mrs Clinton leads Mr Trump by 4 percentage points in the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, with their positions with voters basically unchanged since Mr Trump’s support surged two weeks ago.
Reports then circulated that Trump had been joking about the challenge, and Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver said on CNN that they hoped Trump wouldn’t “chicken out”.
The suggested debate would have sidelined likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton but given Sanders a huge platform ahead of California’s June 7 primary. We look forward to a substantive debate that will contrast the very different visions that Sen.
But about 30 minutes later, a statement from the Republican’s campaign shot down that possibility, arguing that the networks wouldn’t really give a significant amount to charity. Likewise, the networks want to make a killing on these events and are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes, in this case, women’s health issues.
Trump on Friday said it would be ” inappropriate” to debate Sanders, calling him a “second place finisher”.
Hecker says he wants the debate to “focus on compromise and solutions”, which would be an interesting and new challenge for both candidates.
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When asked whether banning Muslims from entering the USA was still in his policy plans, Trump said radical Islamic terrorism was a problem everywhere, adding, “We’re going to find a problem and come up with a solution”. Sanders, for his part, had responded to Trump’s late-night offer with a tweet, saying “game on”.
