With both Donald Trump and President Joe Biden prepping for the June 27 debate — the first of the 2024 presidential campaign — there are growing concerns within the former president's camp that the two-minute time limit for answers combined with the candidate's mic being muted when it is not their turn will prove difficult for Trump who is known to ramble.
The debate, to be held on CNN with "State of the Union" hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash serving as moderators, has a much stricter set of rules than were implemented when the two faced off four years ago, and campaign strategists are prepping their candidates accordingly.
Outside of having no audience on hand, the control of the candidate's microphone will be the most obvious change.
As the New York Times is reporting, "There will be no opening statements. President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump will each have two minutes to answer questions — followed by one-minute rebuttals and responses to the rebuttals. Red lights visible to the candidates will flash when they have five seconds left, and turn solid red when time has expired. And each man’s microphone will be muted when it is not his turn to speak."
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Noting that four years ago, Trump continued to talk over Biden which led to the Democart to tell him, "Will you shut up, man?” the Times report notes, "The rules circulated by CNN warn that this time, 'moderators will use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing."'
One former adviser to Trump said the new restrictions may put the former president at a disadvantage.
With the Times report noting, "For his part, Mr. Trump has never consented to anything resembling traditional, rigorous debate preparation, and this election appears no exception. He has often said that he is at his best when improvising," former 2020 Trump campaign adviser Marc Lotter admitted, "He views his rallies as debate prep. If they’re literally going to cut your mic, you’ve got to hit your marks."
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As for the Biden side, Kate Bedingfield, who helped Biden prep for the debates in 2020, remarked, "The goal is no surprises. In some ways, you have to be prepared for the unimaginable. So the aim of the process is to acclimate President Biden to the idea that some really awful things may come out of Donald Trump’s mouth.”
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