There won't be a substantive debate, between Trump and our nominee, on policy...

[Skya Rhen]

Link to tweet

[mr_lebowski]

1. Bakari is right, Cuomo however makes zero sense ... seems he loves the word 'parse' though (nt)

[Skya Rhen]

2. I agree - Cuomo's confusing so I updated OP to just include the original tweet from Bakari Sellers..

[jalan48]

3. So it will be an identity politics debate?

[PoliticAverse]

4. There's no need for a debate. There is a need for a message/theme....

and that should be "America needs a change".

[George II]

5. Better yet: "American needs a President"

[BannonsLiver]

6. There's almost no chance there will be debates of any kind in the GE cMpaign.

[Drunken Irishman]

10. 100% there will - everyone is fooling themselves if they think Trump will turn a debate down.

You heard the exact same thing in 2016.

Trump's ego is too big for him to turn down the opportunity to debate - and he believes he's so effective at it, he'll WANT to debate. You guys all seem to assume Trump isn't delusional and that he's actually terrified of standing on the debate stage with the Democrats. It's the exact opposite. Trump has convinced himself he's just that good. Why turn down an opportunity to debate when you believe you'll kill it?

[SCantiGOP]

11. I agree with bannonsliver

Trump has nothing to gain from debates; he'll stick to rallies.
He won't turn down debates of course, just put in unacceptable terms so he can claim the Dems are afraid to debate him. He has already threatened FOX with loss of debates if they continue to criticize him; I could easily see him demanding that the debates be put on by the only "non-fake news, America-hating" network, which is of course FOX, and that Hannity, Carlson and Piro be the moderators.

Sample question- Dem Candidate, how long do you think it will take for your socialistic policies to ruin the American economy?

[dottie66]

7. I feel Trump will decline to debate no matter who the Dem candidate is

[Drunken Irishman]

9. Trump's ego is too big for him to decline...

[riverine]

12. Why? He will lie, insult, and demean any candidate like he always has. He has no fear.

Anyone that thinks Warren, Harris, Biden, or Sanders will "take Trump apart" in a debate has seriously not been paying to attention to the Con Man.


And NO WAY will moderators do real time fact checks.

[Drunken Irishman]

8. And the Democratic candidate can't get lost in the weeds of policy...

It sucks but these debates will be about optics and with Trump lobbing insult after insult, you cannot effectively deflect 'em with policy. People will tune out what you're saying and only focus on the yapping dog. This is where Hillary, imo, struggled against Trump in those debates. She did her best to stay above the back and forth and focused on substantive issues. There's no question she won every single one of those debates. The problem is that it barely moved the needle because all people remember were the lobs. That's how Trump has succeeded when it comes to debating - he throws lob after lob, lie after lie, and if you pivot to actual substance, those lobs are all anyone ever remembers.

How you effectively debate Trump is by keeping him on the defensive. Attack his character. Attack his failures. Call him a racist. Call him mentally unfit. Then he gets flustered and then he struggles. One of the best debate moments in 2016 was when Hillary called Trump Putin's Puppet. It worked. It threw him off his game. His only response was a cringy, "no, you're the puppet...". She needed to do more of that.

[jalan48]

13. Or get lost in the weeds of identity politics which is what Republicans want.

Unless we present a united front in support of all Americans we will lose to Trump's divisive tactics.