'You never take responsibility': Debate questions released 'to hold Trump accountable'

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board this weekend published an op-ed that includes a list of debate questions the editors say is the only possible way for the moderators "to hold [Donald] Trump accountable."

"Given his appalling record, Trump has no business being on a presidential debate stage, let alone one in the shadows of Independence Hall," but since the debate against 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is two days away, and "roughly two months to go in what is expected to be a close election, voters need the media and debate moderators to treat Trump as the serious threat he is to the future of the country and the free world," the board writes.

It's not Trump or Harris who face "the biggest challenge on Tuesday" the editors submit, but it's ABC News' Linsey Davis and David Muir face, as the pair have a responsibility to "press Trump to give substantive responses to their questions."

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The board asserts that "asking tough questions and holding Trump accountable is the proper role of the media to help inform voters," and to prevent the "convicted criminal, financial fraudster, and sexual predator" from holding office again.

The list of questions "debate moderators and political reporters should ask Trump to help voters make their decision," according to the Inquirer board, are below:

• Federal investigators received classified intelligence that suggested the president of Egypt gave you a $10 million 'cash bribe,' but your attorney general blocked the probe, according to the Washington Post. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee last week asked you to provide the funding source of a $10 million donation you gave your campaign around the same time and how it was repaid. Will you make that documentation public?
• You have flip-flopped your position on abortion over the years, including saying you were 'very pro-choice' and later claiming women who get abortions should be punished. Last month, you gave two different answers within 24 hours regarding Florida’s six-week abortion ban. Can you clarify your position and whether you support a national abortion ban?
• You called for prosecuting President Joe Biden, executing your former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, andjailing former Rep. Liz Cheney. If elected, will you follow through on any of these threats or go after other political enemies?
• You use faulty claims to criticize Biden and Harris for not doing more about the border. But you worked to kill a bipartisan bill Biden and Harris supported that included the toughest immigration reforms ever. So, is your stance on immigration aimed at scoring political points or finding real solutions?
• You have criticized Biden’s efforts to negotiate a cease-fire regarding Israel’s war in Gaza. But the Wall Street Journal said you don’t have a plan. What would you do differently than Biden? And did you urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay a cease-fire deal until after the election?
• You claim to 'know nothing' about Project 2025, yet you support initiatives in the plan to fire thousands of federal civil service workers, curtail the U.S. Justice Department’s independence, and abolish the U.S. Education Department. So, how does your position differ from these same plans spelled out in Project 2025?
• If Harris is as radical as you claim, why would more than 200 Republicans who previously worked for former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, or Sen. Mitt Romney endorse her?
• Why are so many of your own cabinet members not endorsing you, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and former national security adviser John Bolton?
• Your campaign centers on criticizing your opponent and blaming others. Can you give some specific details — and not just slogans — as to how you will improve the country?
• You boasted that you “did nothing” about guns while you were president. Indeed, gun violence spiked during your tenure. Have the frequent school shootings, mass killings, or the assassination attempt on your life caused you to rethink your position on gun safety?
• You constantly criticize Biden’s economic policies. Yet, he added more jobs during his term than you did — even after excluding the losses during the pandemic. The stock market has reached record levels under Biden, and economists predict your tariffs and other policies will lead to higher prices, increased inflation, and possibly a recession. Even Goldman Sachs expects better economic growth if Harris wins. How will your economic plans help people?
• You watched the insurrection unfold on TV for hours and did nothing. Do you wish you had done more to quell the violent attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?
• Why do you continue to bow down to Russia even as it commits war crimes in Ukraine? Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said you told him you plan to cut off aid to Ukraine if elected. Is that true?
• If elected, will you withdraw the United States from NATO and again abandon the Paris Agreement?
• During your first term, you left the country the most divided since the Civil War. Do you have any specific plans to unite the nation?
• You never take responsibility. Any time you get investigated, indicted, impeached, convicted, accused of sexual harassment, or faced a civil judgment, you claim it is fake news, a hoax, or blame someone else. Have you ever owned up to a mistake or apologized for a failure?

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The Inquirer's full editorial is available at this link (subscription required).