Left-wing figures across the board demanded the remaining presidential debates be canceled because the entire spectacle, they say, was “stupid” and future debates would serve as a “danger to public safety and a direct threat to Black life.”
Former MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, for example, stated the debates should be dropped because they are “now a danger to public safety and a direct threat to Black life”:
Yes. Cancel them. The debates are now a danger to public safety and a direct threat to Black life. Cancel the debates. https://t.co/e2OUyjW4Na
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) September 30, 2020
“Cancel the other debates. This is stupid. Trump is only there to grunt, scratch and howl,” Walter Shaub, a former government ethics official, said:
Cancel the other debates. This is stupid. Trump is only there to grunt, scratch and howl.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) September 30, 2020
Larry Sabato, Director at the UVA Center for Politics, added that they should nix the remaining contests because “it is impossible to have an orderly, productive exchange with Donald Trump”:
CANCEL THE REMAINING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES. It is impossible to have an orderly, productive exchange with Donald Trump. Stop pretending otherwise. #Debate2020
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) September 30, 2020
The Atlantic’s David Graham wrote a piece devoted to the idea in which he concluded, “If the CPD really wishes to benefit the American electorate, it should cancel the rest of the debate season.”
Similarly, on Wednesday morning, Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski penned an oped calling for the end of the debates.
“We are better than this. This should not happen again. It was an attack on our values, and that attack was allowed to go on for 90 minutes. Shame,” she wrote. “My take? There should be no more debates this election cycle.”
“If there cannot be a debate based on dignity, there should be no debate,” she continued, ultimately concluding that “debates be damned.”
More:
As I predicted in my column this morning, there was no point to this debate because there is no point in asking Donald Trump a question. He thinks things are true because he says them, and thinks any truth he doesn't like is fake. Cancel the remaining debates now.
— Gene Collier (@genecollier) September 30, 2020
.@NicolleDWallace just correctly said Trump abused the process and that future moderators need to have a plan to stop it. I think the answer is either 1. cut off Trump's mic when he does his thing or 2. cancel future debates. Tonight served no purpose.
— Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) September 30, 2020
If a high school or college debater acted like Trump did tonight they would be disqualified for breaking the rules.
Trump should be disqualified too. They should cancel the next two debates. Trump doesn’t deserve another chance to rage on tv. #Debates2020
— Jennifer Mercieca (@jenmercieca) September 30, 2020
Cancel the other debates. They will be pointless too.
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) September 30, 2020
We don’t need another presidential debate. Cancel the next 2
— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) September 30, 2020
However, others, such as Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), veered from his party’s collective call, contending that it is “critical for those who don’t follow politics to be exposed to who @realDonaldTrump is unfiltered and unhinged”:
If you are reading this post, then you pay more attention to politics than most Americans. It is critical for those who don’t follow politics to be exposed to who @realDonaldTrump is unfiltered and unhinged. We should not cancel debates or cut off Trump’s mic.#WednesdayWisdom https://t.co/gAKsTRPmSY
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 30, 2020
Others have pointed out that the next debate, taking place Thursday, October 15, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, in Miami, Florida, will be a town hall format, which could bring a semblance of greater civility, given the presence of voters posing questions.
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