Donald Trump News: Republican Nominee Elects To Participate In All 3 Presidential Debates
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump put to bed any questions about whether he would participate in all three presidential debates on Monday. According to The Washington Post, Trump waited to make his decision until the moderators for each debate were announced, but apparently Donald approves of NBC’s Lester Holt, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, ABC’s Martha Rabbatz, and Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
“I expect to do all three. I look forward to the debates. I think it is an important element of what we’re doing. I think you have an obligation to do the debates,” Trump said to reporters in Ohio. “I did them with the other [primary candidates] — I guess 11 debates. I look forward to the debates.”
Donald Trump says he’s on board for all three debates: “I respect the moderators” https://t.co/cPwr3ugMjE pic.twitter.com/GkOM23JNh0
— CNN (@CNN) September 5, 2016
Trump was also reportedly not happy with the dates of the debates prior to agreeing to participate on Monday as the first debate will coincide with Monday Night Football which could have an impact on ratings. While the debates were brought up as an issue, it clearly seems as if the moderators were the biggest hurdle for Trump.
“I would say that certain moderators would be unacceptable, absolutely,” he told Time magazine last month.
The first presidential debate will be moderated by Holt on September 26 at Hofstra University while the second will be co-moderated by Cooper and Rabbatz in a town-hall-style forum at Washington University in St. Louis and the final debate will be moderated by Wallace at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
In even better news for Trump, Wallace made news on Sunday by saying that he wouldn’t be fact-checking the debate on October 19. The issue has caused a lot of anger among Wallace’s fellow colleagues and journalists as it’s been reported that Trump made 71 incorrect, misleading or questionable statements in a speech back in March of this year.
It’s unclear if Holt, Cooper or Rabbatz plan on fact-checking, but Chris Wallace’s declaration could make it more difficult on viewers to decipher between fact and fiction. While his main job is to keep the debate on track and moving, this election process has been built on a number of lies and fact-checking would be the best way to present the American public with the truth.
Presidential Debating:Trump Says He’ll Attend All 3 Debates#Presidentialrace#DonaldTrump#debates https://t.co/cDPcda9Kjr via @6abc
— Monica Malpass (@monica_malpass) September 5, 2016
According to Politico, Donald Trump’s best chance for victory is to dominate the first presidential debate on September 26 at Hofstra. The site states that Clinton’s campaign has grown worried over Trump’s recent success by shaking up his campaign staff and traveling to Mexico to meet with president Enrique Pena Nieto.
The Clinton campaign is concerned that Trump doesn’t have to do very much in order to be viewed as having a successful campaign. Over the last few days, support for Trump has risen and he’s begun to cut into Clinton’s lead simply by showing up in Mexico. Hillary’s campaign is afraid that it means that Trump will gain even more support just by being on stage with her for the presidential debate.
As the two prepare for the debates, Hillary Clinton has been prepping for weeks while Donald Trump has only just started to begin to prepare for the most important moments of his political career. Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell believes that’s a big mistake by Trump.
“In a two-person debate; it’s not going to work to say, ‘I’ll take care of this; I know more than the generals, believe me,'” said former Pennsylvania governor and longtime Clinton friend Ed Rendell. “You actually have to be substantive.”
It won’t take long to figure out which side wins the first debate as it’s set to take place in three weeks.
[Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images]
