President Donald Trump’s campaign is demanding that the Commission on Presidential Debates restore the original topics for the final presidential debate, arguing that the current topics are too biased in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said in a letter to the committee that foreign policy should be the primary focus of the next debate, since that has been the “long-standing custom.”
The commission allegedly promised both candidates that foreign policy would be the main topic, but then released a line-up that includes climate change (again), race, and the coronavirus pandemic, with no sign of foreign policy.
All the topics were covered extensively in the previous debate between the nominees, as well as their respective town halls last week.
Climate change consistently ranks at the bottom of lists of issues voters care most about in surveys.
From Commission on Presidential Debates: ‘Kristen Welker, moderator of the Oct. 22, 2020 presidential debate, has selected the topics for that debate.’ See below. Maybe it’s covered somewhere, but something on the economy–voters’ #1 issue–would be nice. pic.twitter.com/OPg84Njckk
— Byron York (@ByronYork) October 16, 2020
It is clear that Biden is “desperate to avoid conversations about his own foreign policy record,” Stepien said, and the commission is helping him do it.
Given the commission’s recent rule changes, and the debate moderator’s deep ties to the Democratic Party, the Trump campaign has a fair point.
“The Commission’s pro-Biden antics have turned the entire debate season into a fiasco and it is little wonder why the public has lost faith in its objectivity,” Stepien added.
Biden’s campaign, however, accused Trump’s team of lying and said the president is just trying to sidestep questions about his administration’s “disastrous” response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump’s campaign made it clear the president will participate in the debate even though the “biased” debate commission has stacked the cards against him.
Trump is “committed” to debating Biden, said Stepien, but will not refrain from calling out the commission’s attempts “to provide advantage to their favorite candidate.”
