The 2024 election is set for one of its major inflection points.
Both Democrats and Republicans were shocked at what happened.
And Donald Trump revealed he set this sick trap for Joe Biden.
Why no one thought there would be debates in 2024
For most of this year, the conventional wisdom surrounding the 2024 election was that there wouldn’t be any debates.
Biden hinted that he wouldn’t debate Trump since Trump was an alleged criminal and an insurrectionist.
In reality, Democrats figured the lawfare their prosecutors waged on Trump would sink his poll numbers.
Democrats didn’t want Biden appearing in 90-minute events scheduled for late at night when senility can be worse and, thus, would be on full display for voters.
Since Democrats expected Biden to lead in the polls, the thinking went that there was no need for a debate.
Trump also didn’t debate in the GOP Primary and previously attacked the Commission on Presidential Debates for rigging past contests against him.
Trump spent all spring taunting Biden about his desire to debate Biden “anywhere, anytime, anyplace.”
Suddenly the status quo changed when Biden released a bizarrely-edited video with multiple jump cuts – seemingly showing that Biden couldn’t deliver a simple message not even 20 seconds in length without production tricks – saying he would debate Trump twice.
The proposed debates would take place on CNN and ABC, with both networks picking liberal activists as moderators.
CNN selected anti-Trump activists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash to moderate the first debate, and some thought Trump got caught in an ambush when he immediately agreed to Biden’s proposal.
Trump explains why he debated
In an interview with the Washington Examiner’s Byron York, Trump said it was he who set the trap for Joe Biden by quickly agreeing.
Trump explained that the proposed debate terms were so one sided by design to force Trump to turn them down.
That way Democrats and the media could attack Trump for being scared to debate.
“What they did, I’m pretty sure, is that they approached me with a debate that I couldn’t take,” Trump told York.
“‘Fake Tapper’ throughout — no audience, sitting down, originally sitting down, a dead debate, turn off the mikes when you’re not speaking so I can’t interrupt him. . . . They knew I wouldn’t accept that because it was CNN, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, and I like an audience and probably he doesn’t, who knows? So they thought they would present it, I would say no, and they would say we can’t debate because Trump said no. So I said yes before they even gave me the terms. So he got roped into it,” Trump added.
York told Trump that both candidates were locked into a debate once the other dared them to accept an invitation to show up.
“I don’t think either one of you could have said no when the other one said yes,” York stated.
Trump agreed.
“No, I couldn’t have said no,” Trump responded.
Past elections have shown debates don’t end up affecting the outcome much.
Only time may ultimately tell if this one was any different, but Trump supporters know the former President usually hits hard, whether he’s punching or counterpunching.
