The Commission on Presidential Debates deserves to be disrespected

The Donald Trump campaign is not an organized effort with which I typically agree or endorse, but their latest statement, put out in response to a position taken by the Commission on Presidential Debates, isn’t just on point — it’s essential to understanding the reason Americans distrust our government and process.

Let’s rewind for a second. In 2020, the Commission on Presidential Debates (average age: recently deceased) engaged in one of the most public displays of misinformation, obfuscation and lying that we have ever seen in the context of an election. When then C-SPAN host Steve Scully was caught tweeting blatantly inappropriate question gathering to Anthony Scaramucci days before a debate he was supposed to moderate, the CPD went into full protection mode. They claimed Scully’s account had been hacked. They defended him as an honorable host. And they also defended the absurd decision to make the presidential debate virtual out of Covid concerns as opposed to rescheduling it.

All these steps were lies or based on lies — and they were advocated for by octogenarian CPD director Frank Fahrenkopf. He went to the hilt defending Scully, proclaimed that the virtual debate was essential for health concerns and repeatedly advocated for the idea that he and only his directorship of fellow decrepit ex-politicians be allowed to determine the format, hosting, broadcasting and so on of presidential debates.

In case it’s unclear: this is absolutely absurd. Debates do not need to be determined by commissions at all. There is no need for the CPD to exist. Frank Fahrenkopf should be pining for the fjords instead of determining how our presidential candidates interact. And after 2020, there’s no question that the CPD isn’t just out of touch, aged, decrepit, etc. — it’s also deeply bent. They lied to us, over and over and over again, about the actions of their moderator that ultimately led to his dismissal and the end of his career when the truth came out that no hacking had occurred. 

Trump’s campaign is well within its rights to reject the CPD’s scheduled plan for debates; in fact it’s irresponsible to accept them at all or diminish American representative democracy by pretending this fake institution has any authority whatsoever. Millennials are the biggest generation living today and there is not one single representative of their generation on the Commission. Debates should be flexible, hosted on streaming platforms, available for all and with moderators negotiated between the campaigns themselves. The Commission is a Nursing Home for the politically irrelevant and soon to be departed. We should in no way cede power to them. Begone with ye.