Like Clinton, Trump Chickens Out of Debate with Sanders

[imagine2015]

Like Clinton, Trump Chickens Out of Debate with Sanders
'Well, I say to Mr. Trump, what are you afraid of?'
by Common Dreams staff
May 27, 2016

Looks like Donald Trump took a page from Hillary Clinton's book and chickened out.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee said Friday afternoon that he would not debate Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, despite having said one day prior that he'd "love to debate Bernie."

Sanders' rival for the Democratic nomination said earlier this week that she would not participate in a debate with Sanders in California ahead of that state's primary next month, despite having agreed to do so previously.

Speaking with reporters in Los Angeles on Friday, Sanders said he hoped Trump would have a change of heart.

"I hope that he changes his mind again. Mr. Trump is known to change his mind many times in a day," Sanders said. "Trump is a bully, he's a big tough guy. Well, I say to Mr. Trump, what are you afraid of?"

In a statement, the Vermont senator alluded to why Trump—whom Sanders consistently trounces in polls—might not want to face him head-on:

There is a reason why in virtually every national and statewide poll I am defeating Donald Trump, sometimes by very large margins and almost always by far larger margins than Secretary Clinton. There is a reason for that reality and the American people should be able to see it up front in a good debate and a clash of ideas.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/27/clinton-trump-chickens-out-debate-sanders

[Autumn]

1. Maybe Bill had a chat with him, like the chat he had with him when he got him to run.

[Gothmog]

2. The last debate of the 2008 cycle was April 16

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_debates_and_forums,_2008#April_13.2C_2008_-_CNN_8:00pm_EDT_-_Grantham.2C_Pennsylvania.2C_Messiah_College President Obama refused to debate since he had a significant but smaller lead in delegates than Clinton does now.

Sanders has no chance of being the nominee and so there is no need to debate him

[Tarc]

3. Apples and oranges, Mr. Imaginary.

The Democratic primary is essentially wrapped up, a debate serves no use or function at this stage, as Bernie cannot and will not be the Democratic nominee.

Trump offered a tongue-in-cheek debate, Sanders lapped it up. Trump comes off looking like an ass and a coward, Sanders comes off looking desperate. The winner?

[NWCorona]

8. Yup! MSN has been so right in the past.

[MrMickeysMom]

4. I real tease..... yeah...

[beachbum bob]

5. lol...obama refused any debates with hillary in 2008 after he had pledged and superdelegate totals

like hillary has today over sanders....

we really don't need to see or hear any more of sanders blah blah blah and pie in sky new policies that he has no idea how to make happen....the people have spoken and hillary is the nominee

[amborin]

6. she's afraid and is not transparent; knows there will be qns about her server and she refuses to ans

[SFnomad]

7. I can understand neither Secretary Clinton nor tRump wanting to debate a 2nd place finisher

Why waste everybody's time?

[procon]

9. The leading candidates don't need to debate the losers.

Sanders is the only one barking about debates because it offers him a last ditch opportunity to get attention. He's broke, so a debate with the top Republican or Democratic candidate would give him a tremendous PR boost... free of charge. The exposure would likely lift his flagging campaign by giving the impression that he has equal stature with the front runners. Trump and Hillary have nothing to gain by appearing on equal footing with a 2nd place candidate. They would by stupid to throw away their hard fought wins and diminishing their standing down to Sanders level.

[WhiteTara]

10. Or who wants to debate the loser?

[Sheepshank]

11. It appears no one sees the upside of debating a loser nt

[B Calm]

12. Two of a kind? She must be so proud to have something in common with Trump.