Trump Signaling Withdrawal From Debates

[bigtree]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[malaise]

1. He wants it both ways -he rejected the original rules

and now he rejects the changes. Fuck him!
ByeDon!

[KS Toronado]

61. I'm thinking the rules shouldn't be changed to turn off their mikes.........

Allow Hair-Doo the opportunity to make himself look small and un presidential again. Biden will be better prepared
for future debates knowing what is coming his way. When Hair-Doo interrupts Joe, he could simply look into the
camera, point at Tee-Rump with a special look on his face. Or Joe could start each reply with "If I'm interrupted
would you remind bozo you weren't talking to him?" There's a lot of ways Joe could make him look small. We
know he can't keep his trap shut, allow him to self defeat himself again
.

[malaise]

64. I argee

Hopefully he will have a final meltdown

[DENVERPOPS]

77. You really want to piss him off?

Have Biden hold his little pinkie finger up in the air and wiggle it while looking at Trump and then the camera.......

If he did that every time Trump went off on each of his insane rants, Trump would for sure blow a gasket.........

I mean really, at this point, and with the state of things, what difference would it make?????? LOL

[liberal N proud]

98. That would be great but, the cult plays the false equivalency

They have been repeating to each other over and over telling everyone that “both sides” were terrible and “both sides” were assholes.

I finally chimes in today at work. I usually refrain from politics at work for obvious reasons, but today, I had enough!

My boss was even standing right there.
I went off.
I asked each and every one of them if they had ever experienced bullying. Have ever tried to refrain from punching the bully as he keeps punching you? Until finally you have no choice? Then you both get blamed for the fight. That’s what happened Tuesday night.

Didn’t change any minds But shut them up for a bit.

[KS Toronado]

102. I understand that, but presently Joe advisers are exploring ways to help Joe keep his cool

and how to exploit Hair-Doo's lying loud mouth. I'm fairly certain Joe will be better equipped to use Tee-rump's
weaknesses against him next debate. I still believe we should leave the mikes on to show the public what a bully
he really is.

[Laha]

135. This is a bit personal

But I know exactly what you're talking about there. I don't have much to do with my family anymore. I've looked into the eyes of someone begging to be given a reason to hurt me more. That's what I see in drumpf and his followers. They're desperate for a reaction they can use to justify their violence.

Reasoning with them never works. Keep safe.

[JHB]

101. Is it really "changing the rules" to add a cutoff?

The rule is that they're supposed to stay quiet when it's the other person's turn to speak.

Considering that one party has unequivocally shown that he feels free to violate that rule whenever he feels like it, how is it changing the rule to provide a means to enforce what that person had already agreed to?

[KS Toronado]

106. I think the rule (or agreement) they are referring to is STFU when the other person has the floor.

Of course we know Hair-Doo will never abide by any rules, because a KING has no rules, he makes them.
But since the people in charge of making the debate rules are considering a mute button and our KING
is threatening to do no more debates if there is some sort of mute button, I believe we are better off with him
on stage with no clothes making a fool out of himself. If he does no more debates, all we get is a talking point
that he's chicken. Believe we would get more undecided voters by allowing him to show his unwillingness or
inability to answer tough questions. But what do I know I'm not a stable genius.

[not_the_one]

134. It isn't changing the rules, it is enforcing the rules that BOTH agreed to.

n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

136. I would like for Joe to turn to the camera and do a Jack Benny deadpan

palm on his face and all.

[lagomorph777]

142. Can he scream while on a ventilator?

I think he's sicker than his pack of liars are letting on.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Allow? ALLOW? You are not the fucking king, asshole.

[TheBlackAdder]

86. I knew he was the one who would back out of the debates. Why? He said Biden would first.

.

Classic projection.

They should also cut the camera along with the mic so that they offenders lose air time.

It's regained on the next question, or next time they speak, but is temporarily cut in if egregious offenses.

.

[soldierant]

125. I have certainly been parying for him to back out!

I hope this is the answer to my prayers.

[Rebl2]

89. He thinks he is king

No actually he thinks he is a dictator

[SergeStorms]

93. A little of each.

dictator + king = dicking. Donald Dicking Trump.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. He is scared to take questions from voters in a Town Hall format.

Unlike Wallace, they will ask really tough questions about his handling of the Covid pandemic, his cratering of the economy, his taxes, and the apparent financial leverage Russian money has on his business.

[calimary]

33. BOOM!

The last time wasn't much fun for him because real people were asking real questions from their own real lives and real experiences.

I think Wallace's problem is he's been in the Pox Noise bin for far too long. He treated trump with almost abnormal deference, and cut him WAY too much slack, until the last third of the debate, when he finally started - uh - "speaking up" "assert control" to be the damn debate moderator and do his damn job! His meekly mewling "Mr. President... Mr. President..." was NEVER gonna work. Because nobody tells donald what to do. Not even somebody from "trump TV."

I kept thinking - "you've been around trump THIS LONG, as a member of his "most-favored network", and you STILL haven't caught on about this guy yet? What would your father, Mike Wallace - the red-meat roaring lion of "60 Minutes", have said?

[Amaryllis]

120. WIth the Town Hall format, will be even more real people with real expereinces.

Bullying them would look much worse than bullying CHris Wallace.

[TheCowsCameHome]

60. Right. He can't trash an 'undecided' voter like he ..

can try to shut down the press or an opposing candidate.

He's toast.

[TheBlackAdder]

87. I guess Biden would get 100% of the town hall time. Place an empty chair for the coward.

[Marthe48]

109. Yes! The empty chair

Maybe clint eastwood could ask it questions.

[MustLoveBeagles]

117. LOL

[Tryingtogetby]

131. Put a chicken in the chair

How would it look if Biden does the debate without trump and has a chicken in the empty chair??
Just at the beginning and then be serious for the rest of the time until end and then have one more shot of the chicken.

[Marthe48]

141. Even better!

A orange rubber chicken.

Come to think of it, a rubber chicken would stay focused better than impeached traitor!

Welcome to DU!

[smb]

124. How About A Cardboard Standee, Or Maybe A Trump Baby Balloon? nt

[demosincebirth]

132. ...or a baby Orangutan.

[ecstatic]

123. Yep. And he can't be his normal nasty self

I can't picture him moving forward.

That being said, his words are very dangerous and are putting a lot of lives in jeopardy. So maybe slithering his way out of the debates are for the best.

[JDC]

144. Exactly. I still question the Covid thing tbh.

I think this it is really about this.

[stopdiggin]

4. doubt that sincerely

I guess we'll find out. But I think this is wishful thinking on this person's part.

[Pantagruel]

5. Don't show up

Give Biden 1.5 hours of uncontested TV time, I think not. Network should insist a non-show cedes his time to the other nominee.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. +1

[bigtree]

11. yep

Link to tweet

[lunatica]

18. Suddenly the rules matter.

We need to give up on the laughable notion that anyone can control him. The only thing that could stop him is a bolt of lightning coming directly from god. But god may not exist, so there’s that.

[keithbvadu2]

66. God would not smite his anointed one (Trump), would he?

God would not smite his anointed one (Trump), would he?

[lunatica]

68. Evidently

Maybe god likes Fascism. He’s everywhere and on all sides so why not?

[PatrickforO]

30. I think that would be great. Biden would walk away with a town hall,

Trump would look like the coward he is, and Biden would go up yet more in the polls.

[LiberalLovinLug]

41. I wish they'd have the guts to do that

I'd even put up a cardboard image of Trump on one side. I can see Biden asking it questions like "Explain to the American people how much you care about them by your incompetence handling the COVID crisis?...............anytime........................Nothing? Okay, lets move on to the next question."

[dixiechiken1]

133. Bueller...

Bueller...

Bueller...

[avebury]

62. Absolutely! nt

[C_U_L8R]

6. He's been fishing for the slightest excuse to cut and run

Coward.

[Blue_true]

92. Maybe another "flare up" of bone spurs? nt

[Sunsky]

8. Won?

Won the worst presidential debater in US history. Nobody else wants the title, you can have it. Enjoy your winnings clown.

[Blue_true]

99. He got his ass handed to him. That is why he is trying to back out of more debates. nt

[Sunsky]

100. Exactly

Donald the clown is running scared.

[onecaliberal]

9. Trump knows he's going to make an ass out of himself.

He cannot stand next to Biden and allow him to speak. When people hear what Biden says they like Him. He’s normal, he’s empathetic. He has morals, he smart and comes ready to roll with great plans to Build Back Better. He’s also an actual Christian in more than name.

Trump has the white supremacists. That’s it.

[H2O Man]

10. Recommended.

The truth is that what we saw on Tuesday night was the best Trump can do at this point. He's a cowardly dog, and so I will not be surprised if he does chicken out.

How diseased must one's mind be to think that he "won" the debate? And how pathetic must one be to say Trump "won," when one knows he shit the bed on live television?

[lunatica]

22. He who shouts the loudest always wins in gutterville.

Being right is unimportant. Being the brawl winner is. Like the baboons. Brawn is totally secondary.

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. Good - spare America the further trauma- either way, he looks bad

Either he looks chicken for backing out, or he looks like an unhinged lunatic in the next two debates. Either way, good for Joe, bad for him.

[crickets]

55. I think trump knows this, deep down.

If he isn't admitting to himself, his handlers know it. He's toast.

[Farmgirl1961]

13. Let him pull out (too bad his dad didn't do that)

And let the moderator just ask Biden questions all night long...

[pnwest]

14. Honestly, I think everyone is looking for

an “out”. Biden, trump, the commission, AND the American people. Nobody wants to see that mess happen again. Everyone knows trump will oppose cutting off the mic, that’s why that’s the first new condition they’re proposing, and everyone is hoping trump will nope out of the rest of the debates. The whole country will heave a sigh of relief.

[jorgevlorgan]

15. The damage is done

The first one already gave bountiful campaign ad material.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. Trump gave no hint of pulling out

I didn't read that all into it.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. I Do

The commission sets the rules.
They say his disruptive and uncivil behavior caused a tightening of rules.
He gets to cry foul, and then say he's not participating because, unfair, rigged, etc.
His supporters get to get up in their fragile feelings, and he's out.
It won't be an open drop out. He's setting up the excuse ahead of time.

[bigtree]

44. happening now

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[DENVERPOPS]

70. Pulling out

is what Trump's father should have done 74 years and nine months earlier..........

On another note, I wonder if Biden realizes the OK sign with fingers is a dog whistle to the white supremacy wing nuts.....

[bigtree]

79. if you look carefully, his thumb isn't extended all the way to the end of the index fing

...why the actual fuck would anyone assume he's making a white power sign here?

Joe was probably alive when the OKAY sign was first used and gained popularity.

ADL:

"The overwhelming usage of the “okay” hand gesture today is still its traditional purpose as a gesture signifying assent or approval. As a result, someone who uses the symbol cannot be assumed to be using the symbol in either a trolling or, especially, white supremacist context unless other contextual evidence exists to support the contention. Since 2017, many people have been falsely accused of being racist or white supremacist for using the “okay” gesture in its traditional and innocuous sense."

[Marthe48]

110. I had to train myself to stop using the circle gesture

It means something else in other coutnries. We hosted and met many exchange students, so I started using the thumbs up gesture, so I wouldn't offend anyone.

[bigtree]

113. context is everything

[Doodley]

17. Trump's circle of sycophants told him that he did great in the debate. They also told him

that he's the greatest president ever and saved two million lives with his handling of the coronavirus. Then they changed his diaper, put him to bed and administered his medication.

[WinstonSmith4740]

115. True that!

But I'm wondering what they gave him beforehand. Where was the adderall snorting sniff?

[Boogiemack]

19. He would be doing us all a big favor. Biden should continue

appearing and being questioned so that he can give his plans uninterrupted. Trump is able to do that uninterrupted at every rally.

They should just connote with the debate schedule whether or not Trump shows up or not. This would allow Biden to go into greater detail about his Presidential intentions and even expand on topics not brought up by the moderator.

Instead of calling it a debate, call it "a date" with the candidate.

I like making Trump as irrelevant as ever.

[bigtree]

28. win-win

Link to tweet

[Celerity]

127. +1000

[Tribalceltic]

80. Excelent Idea!

[Shrike47]

20. They aren't changing the rules, they are enforcing them. He can't handle that. Above the rules?

[Lock him up.]

96. Rules are for others to follow and for him to break without any real hurting

consequences.

His entire life so far, from birth to 74-something... zero really-hurting consequences.

Rules are like Laws for him: They exist for him to break them that's all.

[TheRealNorth]

21. You can't trust anything Trump says

but he seems to be setting up excuses for himself to avoid the debates. First, Trump was telling his MAGATs that Joe was withdrawing, and now this.

My prediction before the 1st debate was that he was going to not do anymore after 1st debate, especially if it went bad. This was because if he couldn't win with a Fox News moderator, he has no hope. A Town Hall will be a disaster - he is going to be yelling "Fake News" at the voters whenever they tell him something he doesn't want to hear.

[enough]

23. So now we all watch this for the next few days -- "will he, won't he?"

They really know how to keep throwing out the distractions.

[honest.abe]

24. Coward!

[Dem2theMax]

36. I was just thinking we should all send him a tweet. With one word.

COWARD.

LOVE the baby having a temper tantrum!
Perfect description of Trump!

[Grokenstein]

25. RUN, COWARD!

[Pepsidog]

26. Take his beating and go home.

[PatrickforO]

27. Boy is THAT gonna backfire on the Traitor-Tot.

When I read this, the first word that came to my mind is COWARD.

[Celerity]

128. lol at Traitor Tot

[spanone]

29. Let Joe show up and tell his story and policies for ninety minutes.

[peggysue2]

31. Then Joe Biden will have the town hall all to himself

A win/win!

[Rice4VP]

32. Good...he's poison

People are already voting. No one is still undecided

[33taw]

69. The only undecideds are those who are embarrassed they voted for him and can't admit they

are considering voting for him again.

[Quixote1818]

34. Someone on DU predicted this to occur exactly like this. Anyone have that thread? nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

35. Waaa. If I don't get my way I'm taking my ball and going home.

That’s the level this human-shaped sewage functions at. So blatant. I’m sick of him getting his way, they need to give his time to Joe if shitgibbon is too skeered to show.

[DENVERPOPS]

57. Exactly

when we were kids, there was always some bully asshole kid that insisted on making his own rules up.
If we disagreed, he would simply take the ball, which he owned, and go home.......

Trump, the Senate Republicans, and his entire administration are in lockstep every step of the way.
They have shown that they will obliterate any of their own members who dares to counter Trump........

[littlemissmartypants]

37. This is going to be fun to watch, debates notwithstanding. ❤ nt

[Illumination]

38. Maybe Trump wants to dress in KKK garb, so it just won't work!...

[SayItLoud]

39. tRUMP will debate. He needs the emotional fix of TV cameras focused on him .

He will disrupt the debate regardless if his mic is muted. He can not control himself and with the help of Adderall loves the rush of being the center of attention. Any attention good or bad.

And besides, he will claim victory regardless of the result.

[Tribalceltic]

42. Can i just say..

Chicken Man!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

43. I predicted Trump would find an excuse to avoid any of the three debates.

I missed it by two.

[world wide wally]

45. Bye, Don

[George II]

46. Yes. This is his out. He forgets that he violated the rules in place which prompted any changes.

[bullwinkle428]

47. If you think he won't show up, you haven't been paying attention for

the last 5 years.

[bigtree]

50. why is that? pulling out like a coward is perfectly in line with the last 5 years

...did it make a better point trying to characterize how much attention I must have been paying?

NO ONE who knows me believes I haven't been paying attention.

There is no good move for Trump at this point. He can pull out now, or watch his ratings deflate because of them.

[bullwinkle428]

119. Woodward said it best - Trump genuinely believes that there is no problem on earth

that can't be solved by the addition of MORE TRUMP! There is absolutely no shame to him at all, and even after something that even he knows is perceived as a "catastro-fuck" (thanks, Jon Stewart) of epic proportions (think "kill Covid by injecting bleach&quot , the fact that there is nothing in life that even comes close to his first love - the sound of his own voice while looking into a camera - will ALWAYS prevail, and he'll never bypass a single opportunity to do that.

[Quixote1818]

48. Stupid on his part. He desperately needs a win in the debates to have a chance in Nov. nt

[OneBro]

49. Excellent! We'll just keep replaying clips from the first debate.

He doesn't deserve a chance to do better in the next debate, AND the "fraidy cat" ads will write themselves.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

51. I do hope Trump doesn't go to the second debate

but Biden is allowed the full time to himself.

And then there need to be plenty of ads showcasing Donald's no-show behavior.

I can think of a few possible ads, at least one showing his worst behavior in recent years, and then ending with something like: Is this the person we want in the White House?

[NoMoreRepugs]

52. With FauxNews and HateRadio there is no "losing"

a debate for a RePutinican candidate ever.

[TeamPooka]

53. Let him quit. The "Coward" ads will run immediately

[DENVERPOPS]

71. I would love

to see non-stop "COWARD" ads........my first choice of words would be "Chicken Shit".............

[Bigredhunk]

54. Nah

Numbnuts will still show for the other two. Too much ego and lots of airtime. This is all just his usual bullsh*t bluster. Whine whine whine about how everything isn't fair and then claim you beat all the people/things who/that were against you.

[iluvtennis]

56. Let rump withdraw - it is he who needs the TV debates, not Joe. nt

[TygrBright]

58. ::does chicken imitation:: braaahhh...brahhhwk-awk... brrraaaahk!!

[TNNurse]

59. Chickenshit.

[Raven123]

63. Correct the record. Tuesday was NOT a debate. Trump doesn't want ANY debate.

[mtnsnake]

65. Instead of whining, Trump should be glad they still allow him to stand up there & lie all night long

whenever it's his turn.

What a fucking baby, crying because they might not let him interrupt Biden every time Joe tries to get a word or two out of his mouth. Trump should have been given the hook the other night for interrupting Biden, a big treble hook with barbs and yank the fucker right off the stage.

[avebury]

67. Just like The West Wing they need to put people wearing a chicken costumes outside of the WH,

Trump Tower and Mar-A-Lago.

For any appearances, a chicken balloon floating above.

I would love to see the Lincoln Project re-work the chicken clips from The West Wing starring Ivanka in the Donna role.

[Brother Mythos]

72. Oh my! What's a loud-mouthed, pathologically lying sociopath to do?!

[DENVERPOPS]

73. have an aneurism

or soil his depends...........

[Vivienne235729]

74. I hope trump backs out. What a dumbass. HE needs the debates more than Biden.

HE needs the debates to score points bc he's the one that is behind. Not Biden. Who is running the asylum over there? Goodness.....

[Tommy_Carcetti]

78. See ya.

IBTL.

Waited three years for your big moment, too.

Impressive.

[doublethink]

76. I bet he throws a 'corona virus rally' somewhere that night ...

instead of debating. And yes the programed time for the last two debates should proceed as scheduled. Joe can shine even more brightly doing the right thing by the American public on national T.V. Peace.

[rickyhall]

81. How 'bout you withdraw from the fucking race, coward.

[Javaman]

82. One word: coward nt

[Scalded Nun]

83. If you are not going to allow me to act like a petulant child in the future...

then I am going to act like one now

[ok_cpu]

84. Just promise that Mama's Boy won't withdraw

before the righteous posterior rearranging that he's scheduled for next week. We sat through tRump-Biden. We deserve to see Sen. Harris whoop pence.

[bigtree]

114. lol

....there's no way he'll agree to even a still split screen of him and Joe after Kamala embarasses his boot licker.

[marble falls]

85. Biden needs to insist on carrying on without Trump - maybe a chair ...

A big over-stuffed motley orange chair with an orange faux fur antimacassar on it.

[Blue_true]

88. What did you expect? He tried his best to be disruptive in the first debate and

still got his ass handed to him. He doesn’t like the odds going forward, so he will look for excuses to not debate.

[LisaM]

90. No one ever went broke underestimating the gullibility of his supporters, BUT....

I think this is a lose-lose for him. If he "debates" again, everybody will be watching for him to implode. If he withdraws after demanding that Biden should be the one to withdraw, some swing voters (and it doesn't need to be very many) will see how weak he is.

While I couldn't watch much of the first debate, I have mightily enjoyed the aftertalk, and the highlights (on CBC radio, they played some of the shouting with Japanese broadcasters talking over it at the same time - it was a total Tower of Babel (I thought another station was coming through at the same time, till the Canadian broadcasters started giggling).

[apnu]

91. Bwak! Bwak! Bwak!

Trump is a chicken!

[Firestorm49]

94. Good. Fuck him. Let Joe have the 90 minutes to talk to the people.

[bluestarone]

95. THIS is what RUMP is all about! (he thinks he's king)

He just wants to CONTROL everything! He's taken control of EVERY fucking Gov. department, and NOW he wants to control the Debate commission!!!! FUCK HIM!

[bucolic_frolic]

97. Trump needs debates far more than we do

Trump does not have the temperament to debate. This election is now a choice that Trump chose: dictatorship or democracy.

[lpbk2713]

103. "You won't have Donald Trump to kick around any more."

Please say it's so.

[roamer65]

104. A town hall minus Dump would be good.

Americans can ask questions of the next POTUS, without interruptions.

[Denzil_DC]

105. OK, don't mute the mics. Just make it clear

that if either of them interrupts or speaks out of turn, their voice will be directed through a speech changer and they'll sound like Daffy Duck.

[lpbk2713]

107. Helium will come out of a tube underneath their mic when a button is pressed.

Whoever talks out of turn gets the helium.

[Denzil_DC]

108. A more elegant and practical solution than mine.

Maybe blend in some nitrous oxide for the second half-hour.

[Chasing Dreams]

116. That will only help Trump

by balancing his Adderall-induced spasms

[Brother Mythos]

112. Yours is an excellent solution to the problem!

[Marthe48]

111. And in the meantime, his TAXES!

All of this is just another way to keep impeached traitor's taxes off the front page.

[BlueWavePsych]

118. BWAHAHAHAHA He'll look weak!

[Freethinker65]

121. Watch him say is self quarantining because of Hope Hicks

[LisaL]

126. He should really be in quarantine.

NT

[ecstatic]

122. This guy can't keep his own lies straight. Earlier today or last

night, wasn't he saying that Biden wants to pull out the next 2 debates? Now, he's admitting that he's the one who wants to pull out, like the spoiled baby he is.

He's desperate and completely incoherent. Probably has Covid too. Hopefully. If we're lucky. At least that would stop the next super spreader rally.

[SharonAnn]

129. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

[SharonAnn]

130. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

[Orrex]

137. If only his father had signaled withdrawal.

[Earthshine2]

138. Keep the rules. The people have spoken. Trump lost.

He'll lose again under the rules because of his barbaric behavior.

After watching the first 15 mins of the debate, a friend of mine who is a 72-yr old woman, and a long-time republican, declared she would vote for Biden. Trump's behavior was too much for her.

[rb15]

139. maybe no debates now

[raccoon]

140. And just the day after, he test positive for covid. How convenient. Nt

[Auggie]

143. Exactly