The Republican presidential nominee said during an interview that aired Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week” that he’s unhappy two of the three debates against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are scheduled against broadcasts of National Football League games – one of which features the New York Giants.
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The Clinton campaign has not comment on Trump’s assertion. “I’m not saying all special interests are bad interests, and I don’t think people who have to take money are necessarily bad”.
Regardless, someone provided Trump with open and obvious information about the scheduling of two debates on nights when the National Football League typically plays games: Sunday and Monday. “Hillary Clinton wants to be against the NFL”, Trump claimed during an ABC News interview.
The Commission, which doesn’t support, oppose or receive funding from political candidates or parties, is headed by former officials of the Democratic and Republican National Committees.
A Trump aide said Saturday that the Republican candidate “was made aware of the conflicting dates by a source close to the league”. On both nights, baseball playoff games also aired – TBS and TNT on Oct. 11 and FOX on Oct. 22; FOX did not air the Oct. 22 debate. A non-profit, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has been organizing presidential and vice presidential debates since 1987.
The campaign is concerned that two of the three presidential debates are set to take place on the same nights as nationally televised NFL games. My personal view is, is that we need maximize the audience and that’s going to be either a Tuesday, Wednesday or a Thursday night.
Should the presidential debates be rescheduled?
Trump has now been rumored to back out of the upcoming debates, which would not be a first for him. As for the accusation that Hillary Clinton cooked up the scheme, that’s a bit of a stretch as well.
The NFL swiftly rejected Trump’s claim: “While we’d obviously wish the Debate Commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Mr. Trump”, spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Post. Same as last time w/ Bernie.
The NFL denied sending a letter. “The CPD believes the dates for the 2016 debates will serve the American public well”, the group added.
As ABC pointed out, the debate dates are set by a non-partisan commission months ahead of time.
At issue is the fact that two of the debates are scheduled opposite NFL football games.
It’s fair to expect that the debate scheduled for October 9, 2016, opposite NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”, will suffer some in the ratings vs. the others.
The GOP nominee said the schedule, decided upon a year ago, is “unacceptable” and accused the Democrats of rigging the timetable.
So, you and I, we’re not here to debate, but Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton are here to debate in, what, 57, 58 days?
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It occurs to me that very few folks watch anything on network television at the time it is actually broadcast.
