(Headline USA) President Joe Biden dismissed former President Donald Trump’s request for an “immediate” debate, claiming the GOP candidate has “nothing else to do.”
Trump issued the challenge on Monday, arguing a debate between him and Biden, the two frontrunners for their parties’ nominations, would be “good” for the country.
When asked about whether he’d be willing to debate Trump during a campaign stop in Nevada, Biden replied, “Immediately? Well, if I were him, I’d want to debate me, too. He’s got nothing else to do.”
It is unclear whether Trump and Biden will face off in a national debate even if both men clinch their respective nominations. Biden has barely appeared on the campaign trail as it is, and Trump has slammed the organization responsible for the debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates, as “totally corrupt” and incompetent.
“They’re totally Democrat-leaning, that’s being nice when I use the word leaning,” Trump said in December. “They are totally corrupt, and they’re terrible.”
However, Trump said he’d still be willing to agree to the commission’s debates just to see if Biden would show up.
“I would do 20 debates even if it was organized by them. I’ll do as many debates as they want. I’d do a debate every night with this guy. But he’ll never show up to a debate,” Trump added.
Top Democrats have sought to lay cover for the 81-year-old president, who some speculate is in the throes of dementia, by suggesting that a debate with Trump would be to unduly normalize and legitimize him.
“I’ve been physically present at one of [Trump’s] debates with Hillary Clinton, and I watched him do outrageous things and say outrageous things,” claimed Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., according to The Hill. “It’s just an opportunity for him to display his extremism.”
The debate commission has so far scheduled three general election debates, with the first taking place on Sept. 16 at Texas State University. The second is scheduled for Oct. 1 at Virginia State University, and the third for Oct. 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
When asked if Biden would show up to the first debate, Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters, “To be honest with you, we haven’t had any real substantive conversations about that quite yet.”
There is mounting speculation that Democrats have no intention of running Biden at all. New York Post columnist Cindy Adams and former Fox New host Megyn Kelly have reported that Biden may reveal his plan to drop out of the race as early as next month.
Megyn Kelly reports on the 93 year old, extremely active, well connected, legendary columnist Cindy Adams saying Barack Obama is lining up donors for Michelle Obama’s announcement in May that she’s running for President. pic.twitter.com/NJ2tnPpDrt
— 𝔹𝕦𝕕… (@bud_cann) January 24, 2024
