Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he is unhappy with the dates set for his televised debates with White House rival Hillary Clinton, putting him at odds with an independent commission that set the calendar nearly a year ago.
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“While we’d obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump”, a league official told Stelter.
But the truth is that a body known as the Commission on Presidential Debates – a self-described, “nonpartisan, nonprofit” effort – announced this information on September 23, 2015; to put this in perspective, at that time Trump maintained a razor-thin lead in the Republican race for the nomination… to Ben Carson.
The commission “did not consult with any political parties or campaigns in making these decisions”, according to a statement issued Saturday.
“Donald Trump is going to get the debate schedule changed, regardless of when those debates were set”, Lewandowski said confidently.
Donald Trump is deeply unhappy about this fall’s presidential debate schedule-and apparently a little confused about who created it.
Outlining his argument on ABC’s This Week, Trump said: “Well, I tell you what I don’t like”. On Sunday, he also said his opponent would prefer such a clash, saying: “Hillary Clinton wants to be against the National Football League”.
The first debate between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton is set for Monday Sept. 26, which would put it up against an ESPN “Monday Night Football” game between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.
On the other hand, it would seem to constitute a tremendous risk for Trump to opt for the unprecedented move of skipping out on general election debates.
Trump did well enough in the primary debates because he had to fill only a few minutes of time in each one, sharing the stage with a dozen or so rivals.
There were no conflicts with professional football games during any of the presidential debates in 2008; however, the final debate which aired during the Major League Baseball playoffs, saw a drop off from the second debate – 63.2 million to 56.5 million.
While the majority of voters are expected to watch the presidential debates this election cycle, many may be unaware of the governing body that decides debate dates each election.
To celebrate Donald Trump’s attempt to sway the rules of a presidential election once again, Twitter chose to help the Republican nominee by offering him a series of other excuses he can use to evade a presidential debate with #TrumpDebateExcuses. (Yes, I know we have Thursday night National Football League games now, but I personally don’t approve of them and if we have to miss a game I’d rather it be one of those.) The primary race debates were moved around and added at the drop of a hat without the world coming to an end. “A debate has never been rescheduled as a result”, CPD, a non-partisan group made up of Republicans and Democrats, added.
The commission seeks to space out the debates and schedule them for different nights of the week.
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Donald Trump is running scared, which is why he is already doing everything he can to avoid debating Hillary Clinton.
