"Well, if I were him I’d want to debate me too. He’s got nothing else to do.”

  • @MrNesser
    link
    28110 months ago

    There is no upside to Biden debating him. Trump will just spout nonsense to get sound bites

    • Shake747
      link
      fedilink
      12010 months ago

      Biden is like Trump’s kryptonite. Trump always tries to get in the other guys head.

      Can’t get in Biden’s head…Bidens not in there, good luck dude

      • Shane Gillis
      • @techt
        link
        1210 months ago

        That guy has the BEST impersonation I’ve ever seen, it’s repulsive! Not just the voice, but the hands, the sucking air through the teeth, the head tilts and mouth movements, all spot-on. You know how you have to wonder about the mental state of horror game/movie artists looking at reference material all day? Same feeling about Shane Gillis.

    • @excitingburp
      link
      9710 months ago

      Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

      Mark Twain

      • @Zevlen
        link
        -610 months ago

        deleted by creator

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          3110 months ago

          The idiot will have more experience at being an idiot and will throw nonsense and fallacies at you while you try to deflect and defend with logic and reason

          • @Zevlen
            link
            1710 months ago

            deleted by creator

            • El Barto
              link
              -1
              edit-2
              10 months ago

              NO IT DOESN’T! IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE BECAUSE OF WHAT THE JEWS AND PIZZA PARLORS ARE DOING. FIGHT ME NOW!!!

              Edit: I hope the downvoters are people who missed the sarcasm.

    • @rayyy
      link
      1510 months ago

      will just spout nonsense

      You spelled lies wrong

      • @hansl
        link
        1510 months ago

        There is a distinction between nonsense and lies though, and it’s not intent. Trump nonsense is closer to just insanity and dementia than lies. For telling lies, first you have to make sense.

      • @BradleyUffner
        link
        English
        1310 months ago

        Even his lies don’t make sense at this point. They are just incoherent rambling that is indistinguishable from his “normal” incoherent rambling.

    • @CaptainSpaceman
      cake
      link
      -2510 months ago

      Biden declining is a win for Trumps fans though

        • @CaptainSpaceman
          cake
          link
          -510 months ago

          Not at all, unless Biden specifically says WHY he wont decline.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            310 months ago

            Of course, if Biden gives the right reason then obviously all the Trump fans will vote for him instead. /s

            • @CaptainSpaceman
              cake
              link
              010 months ago

              It may not convert trumpers to biden, but it might also grow more trumpers

              • @QuaternionsRock
                link
                110 months ago

                Why would he debate someone who is not yet the Republican nominee? He isn’t declining all opportunities to debate up until the election. The only thing that debating him now would accomplish is cementing Trump as the de facto Republican nominee, which is obviously suboptimal.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        910 months ago

        He wants to do it to appear as the clear Rep nominee. He doesn’t get to step over Haley if Biden’s not down.

        • @CaptainSpaceman
          cake
          link
          010 months ago

          Im not disagreeing, but trumpers will say Biden is scared and be emboldened.

          • @Crashumbc
            link
            English
            810 months ago

            Trumpers are a religion at this point. If you base your strategy on them you’ll lose.

          • @Zevlen
            link
            810 months ago

            deleted by creator

          • @dvoraqs
            link
            2
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            It sounds more like Trump is afraid to engage with Nikki Haley

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        2310 months ago

        It’s a shame it didn’t happen…maybe, just maybe, if Bernie had trounced Trump in a debate, there wouldn’t have been that whole Bernie is unelectable/would lose to Trump idea floating so strongly, and it might’ve given him a better chance in the primary either time.

        • themeatbridge
          link
          1110 months ago

          It wouldn’t have mattered. The “unelectable” narrative was coming from the DNC leadership. Bernie was polling just fine until everyone started saying he couldn’t win.

          • @I_Has_A_Hat
            link
            9
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            I remember all the networks showing the number of delegates he and Hillary had, and they showed all the super delegates going to Hillary. Not only had they never shown votes like that before, but the super delegates hadn’t even voted at that point. It was all just based off the assumption that they would all vote for Hillary. Thumb on the scale.

            • themeatbridge
              link
              510 months ago

              Hillary had bought their support from the beginning. She learned from 2008 that she couldn’t compete in an open field, so she wrangled all challengers before the primaries started. Sanders was the only one who couldn’t be bought.

            • Schadrach
              link
              fedilink
              1
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              Thumb on the scale.

              That’s the whole point of super delegates. The consequence in 2016 being that Hillary only needed about 30% in a given primary to “win” that state.

              EDIT: Curious about the downvote. Superdelegates made up a large enough share of delegate that to win a majority of delegates for a given state she only needed about 30% of the primary vote plus the superdelegates. Do the math yourself if you’d like to confirm. Hell, I’m from a state where Clinton only got about 35% of the vote in the primary, which meant she only got one more delegate than Sanders, who had closer to 51%.

        • Captain Aggravated
          link
          fedilink
          510 months ago

          At this point I see debates as pointless.

          There may have been a time in this country where candidate A would have this plan for healthcare, candidate B would have that plan for healthcare, candidate A calls for more trade with Europe, candidate B favors trade with Asia etc. and issues are discussed.

          These days, there’s one political party and one doomsday cult. I don’t think it’s worth the bandwidth to broadcast.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      47
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I’ll seriously consider debating you once - no, I’m sorry: IF - you win the Republican Primary.

      Can you imagine how fucking infuriating that would be to Trump?

    • @Crashumbc
      link
      English
      210 months ago

      This is about legitimatizing his run for president. He would never actually show up.

  • @BradleyUffner
    link
    English
    13510 months ago

    He should instead offer to debate Haley. That would make Trump explode.

    • @RGB3x3
      link
      English
      3410 months ago

      Oh fuck, please please please let this happen.

      “Since you sat out all those Republican debates, we thought you weren’t interested. Sooorry

  • @paddirn
    link
    English
    12910 months ago

    He shouldn’t agree to debate Trump on the grounds that he’s not qualified to run for president, given that he plotted an insurrection.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1210 months ago

      I’m not sure it will ever behoove Biden to take a position on this. Last time he was asked I think he answered that it didn’t matter to him.

      If Biden comes out strongly and says he is ineligible, it’s just tempting SCOTUS to disagree, and have all the morons say he is scared of Trump. And obviously he won’t come out and say he is eligible because that would be stupid, counterproductive and wrong.

      • @Telodzrum
        link
        210 months ago

        It’s not right either. The sitting President shouldn’t use his bully pulpit to put his thumb on the scales of justice.

      • @irish_link
        link
        110 months ago

        Its a simple thing. No sitting president has debated a primary candidate. Its as simple as that. There have been upsets before in the nomination process so you don’t do it. R or D, its a simple strategy that you just don’t do.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        010 months ago

        Do we keep forgetting that Biden already beat Trump? The idea that he would want some unknown entity instead of the guy he already beat is just dumb.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          510 months ago

          Americans are very fickle.

          “We need change.” *Votes for the guy just fucking shit up 4 years prior

    • @Zevlen
      link
      410 months ago

      deleted by creator

  • Heresy_generator
    link
    fedilink
    120
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    He is so transparently desperate to put Haley in the rear-view mirror.

    And he’s already told us what he’s going to do to get out of debating with Biden: He’s going to insist that none of the traditional debates be held and instead they all must be Trump campaign events hosted by his sycophants rather than independently run debates. When he doesn’t get his way he’s going claim Biden didn’t want to debate him.

      • themeatbridge
        link
        3010 months ago

        Biden should agree to that, and then when Trump lands in Moscow, Biden’s not there. He just closes the borders and put his shades on from the White House.

        • El Barto
          link
          2
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          No, fuck that! I want that asshole in prison on American soil!

          Edit: unless the Biden administration freezes all his assets.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            410 months ago

            LOL I’d love to see Trump avoiding windows in Moscow.

            He would be an anti-martyr. Just a stench hanging over the GOP. Not inspiring, just a criminal scared of justice getting golden showers from cheap Russian hookers.

    • @Son_of_dad
      link
      2210 months ago

      The debates don’t even have to be on his turf, when CNN or whoever moderates it just let’s him say and do whatever

      • @rayyy
        link
        410 months ago

        just let’s him say lie and do whatever

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      410 months ago

      And who’s going to swallow that story? The same kind of people who would vote for Trump to begin with.

  • Xhieron
    link
    English
    73
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    If it weren’t for the fact that this shit has real consequences, I’d suggest Biden should invite Haley to debate the president just for spite.

  • @nutsack
    link
    63
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    it’s never a debate. I’ve never seen one that was a debate. Trump would ignore the questions, say edgy shit and get laughs, and basically win

    Biden is right to not platform an insurrectionist

    • @T00l_shed
      link
      1010 months ago

      “Will you shut up, man!”

  • dharwin
    link
    fedilink
    6310 months ago

    No one should ever debate Trump unless the moderator has a “shut the fuck up” switch to cut off the mic. That dumbass has a diarrhea firehose for a mouth, and no self control or manners.

    • @Plopp
      link
      2910 months ago

      I’d prefer it if all candidates had their own sound proof booth. Cut the mic and activate the window blur/block the millisecond they go over time, go off topic, deflect or just spew mouth diarrhea. And make sure it’s locked, too.

    • @Mamertine
      link
      2310 months ago

      And a fact checker that will interrupt blatant lies.

      Trump says things that are incorrect and asserts that reality is a lie.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        410 months ago

        For far too long people have been under the illusion that politicians try and debate in good faith and to some extent certain politicians do - Biden will spin facts into a better light or down play some issues; that’s politics, right? But Trump is everything bad in politics and perhaps humanity, all wrapped into one. To give that a microphone is bad enough, but to think you can “debate” such a thing, should be someone’s first and last mistake. It’s pointless because there’s no new perspective for Trump to bring to America’s current situation; Biden knows this. In many ways, you either vote against Trump because you know what he is, or you vote for Trump because you believe what he wants you to know; he only brings “alternate facts,” and again, Biden knows this.

  • @Dkarma
    link
    5310 months ago

    “I don’t debate insurrectionists, jack”

    • @UnderpantsWeevil
      link
      2710 months ago

      Debates aren’t part of the election process, they’re part of the entertainment process. And if Biden doesn’t agree to do the age-old Three Debate monkey dance, the Undecided Voter will grow angry and support the Fun Candidate instead.

      Or, at least, that’s a theory. There’s another theory that debates are dumb nerd shit that nobody who hasn’t already made up their minds watch anymore. And - much as a bunch of Senators and Governors have refused to debate during safe election years - Biden’s refusal to meet Trump on national TV will actually make him Cool and Based.

      • nickwitha_k (he/him)
        link
        fedilink
        1910 months ago

        It’s not even “dumb nerd shit” these days. Current “debates” are little more than ways of generating soundbites. The moderators don’t do moderation and they refuse to cut mics for those who aren’t up. It’s entertainment and propaganda/campaign marketing, not debating.

        • @UnderpantsWeevil
          link
          210 months ago

          The moderators don’t do moderation and they refuse to cut mics for those who aren’t up.

          You don’t really need to cut mics when you control the cameras and get to edit this shit in post during the Sunday Morning Talk Shows.

          The vast majority of people don’t watch the debates live. They just get the reactions after the fact.

          It’s entertainment and propaganda/campaign marketing, not debating.

          The future of politics is a new generation of celebrity candidates. And I don’t even know if that’s a bad thing, considering how many of our last generation’s candidates came out of a vat in the basement of some East Coast Ivy League boarding school.

          • nickwitha_k (he/him)
            link
            fedilink
            410 months ago

            The vast majority of people don’t watch the debates live. They just get the reactions after the fact.

            I gave up on any of em after getting annoyed at the complete lack of debate in the “debates”.

            The future of politics is a new generation of celebrity candidates. And I don’t even know if that’s a bad thing, considering how many of our last generation’s candidates came out of a vat in the basement of some East Coast Ivy League boarding school.

            New boss, same as the old boss. Hard to say that there will be any difference as, since the embrace of neoliberalism, there’s been virtually zero politicians doing anything more than attempting to look like they’re trying to do anything for the populace but are somehow completely powerless to do anything but help their bribers-erm…“lobbyists” squeeze more out of those that can barely afford anything.

            • @UnderpantsWeevil
              link
              410 months ago

              there’s been virtually zero politicians doing anything more than attempting to look like they’re trying to do anything

              One of the big appeals of Trump is that he grasps at every lever of power he can find and pulls it.

              Nine times out of ten, it isn’t connected to anything. But if you pull on enough shit, maybe a big border wall or a Muslim ban or a repeal of Roe v Wade or a giant bucket of cash falls out and your voters love you for it.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              310 months ago

              America has had playboy celebrity politicians since Jefferson.

              And by that I mean politicians who attain celebrity, not the other way round. There’s nothing really “wrong”, per se, with having some celebrity in your politician. It’s when you get politician in your celebrity that we’ve learned bad things happen.

              Celebrity scientists like NdGT and Hawking are considered net positives for STEM, yes?

      • @davepleasebehave
        link
        1310 months ago

        you can’t beat trump in a debate really. he will shit everywhere and his supports will guzzle residues. what’s the point.

        • @UnderpantsWeevil
          link
          510 months ago

          you can’t beat trump in a debate really.

          You can. He’s a B-list stand up so you bring your A-game.

          But Biden isn’t a professional comedian. He’s not going to roast Trump in a game of The Dozens.

          what’s the point.

          When you’ve got a friendly press corps, you do a debate and let the media stunt on the opposition for you.

          There’s going to be a 5 second clip of one of them stumbling or mispronouncing a word, and then the next week long news cycle becomes “Does Candidate Have Alzheimer’s? Here’s a dozen Dr. Oz tier talking heads to tell you he might!”

          But when conservatives have their own big, invasive, and professionalized hatchet men teams, there’s a legit fear among Democrats that they will be more likely on the receiving end.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            5
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            You can’t beat Trump in a debate because thats like beating a chimp in a hotdog eating contest. End of the day he’s just gonna throw shit at you and you’re just gonna gobble down a bunch of wieners. You won, but at what cost?

          • @Furbag
            link
            210 months ago

            I have to disagree. You can’t reasonably debate someone whose arguments aren’t based in reality. Trump’s tactic since 2016 has been to use whatever platform that he’s been given to smear and denigrate his opponents at every opportunity and to lie about how all of the problems we face can be easily solved if only he were allowed to do it. When questioned on actual policy matters, he spouts complete nonsense that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, but since it’s a fast paced debate he can make up bullshit and nobody will fact check him. Even if by some miracle the moderators do fact check him, he will turn to attack them and say they are politically biased against Trump, etc. etc.

            It’s a zero-win situation. Trump will never lose points for bad behavior among his base, and he only stands to benefit from the increased exposure. Biden meanwhile can’t score a goal when the goalpoasts are motorized to move backwards at this point and only invites unnecessary risk of flubbing or tripping up, which will be played back on repeat on political talk shows to harm him.

            I don’t disagree that he could totally beat him, but when the opposition is always playing a game of Texas Sharpshooter, Trump only stands to earn bullseyes while Biden is just wasting ammo.

            • @UnderpantsWeevil
              link
              010 months ago

              You can’t reasonably debate someone whose arguments aren’t based in reality.

              The point of a televised political debate isn’t to win your opponent to your side. The point is to establish to the outside viewer that your position and your personage is more fit to the task of governing than your opponent.

              For a candidate who is divorced from reality, this is typically pretty easy. You point out a few things that the opponent disagrees with and that your audience knows to be true. Then you provoke the opponent into saying something outlandish, attack the absurd allegation, and put up a far more attractive countervailing position/policy that people are more likely to believe practical.

              The problem Biden has is that he’s also immersed himself in propaganda. He isn’t willing to accept the rising poverty or the failing liberal institutions at home. He’s backed an ugly unpopular war in Ukraine and a fucking outright genocide in Palestine. His fixation on bipartisanship has left him once again getting Lucy-with-the-football’d on immigration. His slavish loyalty to the banks means he’s back to harping about a balanced budget and gutting popular public services. He’s constantly saying how he can’t do anything as President, while insisting that a future Trump Presidency would be totally unchecked, which didn’t make sense when Obama claimed it in the wake of Bush and now has completely run itself through.

              And he’s OLD. Really fucking old. He’s even more prone to gaffs and flubs than he was sixteen years ago.

              Trump will never lose points for bad behavior among his base

              Trump’s base isn’t enough to win a general election. But “bad behavior” is its own reward when its directed at someone the crowd doesn’t like. That’s what really makes Trump dangerous. If he were to try and tussle with Biden on the debate stage in 2020, an enormous number of people would be disgusted. But now that so many of those people have soured on Biden, I suspect you’d see quite a few of those same voters applaud.

              Even then, the thing Biden really has to worry about isn’t the Obama-Trump-Biden swing voter nearly so much as it is the Ohio or Virginia or Arizona or Georgia voter who refuses to vote for either one of these assholes. He needs to rally his base, regardless of who his opponent is. Trump being an asshole on stage matters far less than Biden advertising a future four years in this country that isn’t just four more years of shit.

          • Cosmic Cleric
            link
            010 months ago

            But when conservatives have their own big, invasive, and professionalized hatchet men teams, there’s a legit fear among Democrats that they will be more likely on the receiving end.

            Which is why the Democrats should have put someone else up for re-election, someone who can defend themself well.

            • @UnderpantsWeevil
              link
              310 months ago

              Definitely. But this is a government by the elderly, of the elderly, for the elderly.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                210 months ago

                No sitting president has ever lost their party’s primary

                LBJ dropped out of his party’s primary, and although it was far too soon to say if he would have lost, he faced strong opposition in New-Politic anti-war candidates Kennedy and McCarthy. He is on record as worrying about the primary and it doubtless played a big part of his dropping out

                Kennedy of course got shot, and the more conservative Humphrey ended up with the nomination over McCarthy (or late entry McGovern), sparking riots at the DNC. The situations and systems were quite different, but i think there’s some parallels with Biden/Clinton vs Bernie there

                I think Truman also dropped out rather than fight a tough primary, but i don’t know so much about that

              • Cosmic Cleric
                link
                010 months ago

                No sitting president has ever lost their party’s primary. What’s more—and not surprisingly—the ones that have faced significant primary challenges have gone on to lose in the general.

                These days do not seem like normal times to do comparisons with past election successes. Politics seems very different these days, versus how it was in the past.

                It’s one hell of a risk play the Democratic party is doing, not just to their own power as a party, but to the country overall with electing someone elderly that can handle four more years of leadership. There’s a very real chance he could lose as well as win.

      • @aidanM
        link
        2
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        I agree, my political theories of what is popular in the general public is based on sigma edits. Say something dumb but put phonk or synth wave music in the background and I will agree with you.

        Edit: I now support Serbian war criminals

        • @UnderpantsWeevil
          link
          210 months ago

          Edit: I now support Serbian war criminals

          The important thing is that you’re supporting some group of War Criminals.

          Moderate Rebels. Based Chads. Antifa Supersoldiers. Guys firing rockets from Yemen into the Red Sea. Guys firing rockets from Israel into Gaza. Guys driving fertilizer bombs up to the FBI building on Oklahoma. Guys dropping surplus munitions on the MOVE community center in Philly. Guys flinging pipe bombs into abortion clinics. Guys blowing up pipelines in Texas or under the Baltic Sea or anywhere that lets me fist-pump and shout “You fuckin’ gottem, mate!”

          Literally just anything that involves hard looking motherfuckers doing John Wick / Jason Statham shit with the highest body count imaginable.

          Please just promise me that There Will Be Blood.

          • @aidanM
            link
            410 months ago

            Exactly, doesn’t everyone know casually killing people makes you cool. Especially if you’re in plain clothes and the footage looks like it’s from the 80s or 90s. I don’t know who shot first in Waco, but I do know who looked cooler, and it’s not the nerds wearing body armor.

            • @UnderpantsWeevil
              link
              2
              edit-2
              10 months ago

              In a war of swag, David Koresh had it and Janet Reno did not.

              Unfortunately, this was a war that involved tanks. And Janet Reno was undeniably a bigger tankie.

            • @xX_fnord_Xx
              link
              210 months ago

              But what of the coming Subaru Wars?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    4510 months ago

    Oh good. We’re at the “debate me, bro” phase. Love to see it. Lol

    I sincerely hope Biden never takes a single debate with him, because it would be an absolute clown show, and that’s exactly the kind of chaos Trump’s brand thrives upon.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      1210 months ago

      Trump lost every general election debate he has been in, including two against Biden. I don’t know why people forget he’s actually really bad at staying on message and declaring succinct points in response to specific questions, especially when he gets riled up.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1610 months ago

        That’s true, but people in his camp want a spectacle, an entertaining show, not policy plans and actual governance. Putting Trump up there with Biden gives him implicit credence that he’s worth debating, while Biden will be the punchline of his boorish antics.

        It’s true that he would lose every debate point, yet he would still come out on top because of the giant figurative megaphone he would get.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        1010 months ago

        Because he makes a spectacle and enough sound bites to get the press and his supporters talking.

        He makes noise, they like that he makes noise, so they like him. They dont care too much about what the noise is.

  • @SulaymanF
    link
    39
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    The guy who refused every debate until now?

    Trump would refuse debates if given a neutral moderator. And I promise if he did a single debate he’d complain it was unfair no matter the outcome.

    • @linearchaos
      link
      English
      1510 months ago

      Sounds like he wants some free advertisement. The judges are shutting him off in the courts.

      • prole
        link
        fedilink
        English
        310 months ago

        And he’d do it days before the actual debate even occurs.

  • @FabledAepitaph
    link
    3910 months ago

    It’s not really a debate when your opponent’s metrics for winning is simply to speak more loudly, more aggressively, and to refuse to shut the fuck up more intensely than anybody else in the room.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      510 months ago

      Or my personal fav, lurking behind your opponent to try and weird them out and throw them off their game.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil
      link
      410 months ago

      Okay, but that’s basically every debate. Hell, that’s the optimal strategy in a crowded field. Meekly sitting in the back with a pile of spreadsheets that say “I’m right” on them does nothing to galvenize public support for your policies.

      Even then, Biden refusing to meet Trump on stage won’t discourage Trump from doing his whistle stop Beer Hall tour. At some point, I think liberals lose sight of how important big crowds of people cheering at your approach is in a popularity contest. When Biden shows up at an event, he’s greeted by a few dozen angry protesters, calling him Genocide Joe and waving big blown up pictures of dead Palestinian children. When Trump shows up at an event, he’s greeted by a few dozen enthusiastic supporters, calling him the New Messiah and waving big blown up pictures of drowned children in the Rio Grande with “Win One More For the Gipper” scrawled across it.

      Totally different energy at these events. Totally different reception by the party’s base voters.

      If Biden wants to position himself as the “Guy Who Will Protect You From Trump Who Is Worse”, he’s going to have to get out in front of an audience, side by side with Trump, and remind everyone of the distinction. Otherwise, he’s just running in a vacuum as a mediocre President during an economic upswing, and hoping people give him credit for a rising stock market without blaming him for his party’s failure to deliver on any of their major platforms in the last 40 years.

  • theprogressivist
    link
    33
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Why give any more credibility to a pathetic loser fascist? He’s doing just fine comparing himself to Elvis.

    • @Riccosuave
      link
      English
      1610 months ago

      My brother in christ, he is taking a dab not smoking crack.

      • prole
        link
        fedilink
        English
        110 months ago

        What specific members of Biden’s cabinet do you consider a miscreant? Can you even name 3 of them without looking it up.