Biden and Trump say ‘YES’ to debates

After months of speculation — will they, won’t they? — President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump have officially agreed to a set of two presidential debates. In a rather surprising move, Biden released a statement indicating he would not participate in the fall debates sanctioned by the Commission on Presidential Debates (a wholly partisan sham organization, by the way, as my colleague Ben Domenech points out here). Instead, Biden laid out his own set of conditions to his opponent: there will be no audience, no RFK Jr., only CNN, ABC, CBS or Telemundo may host, and microphones must be muted when a candidate’s time expires. Biden also posted a video taunting Trump to participate — “Make my day, pal” — that featured five jump cuts in just fourteen seconds. 

Trump reaffirmed he would debate Biden, and the pair quickly settled on two dates: June 27 hosted by CNN and September 10 hosted by ABC. Puck scooped that Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will serve as moderators for the CNN outing.

Trump has previously said that he would debate Biden “any time, anywhere,” but the president has been less forthcoming about his posture on the modern campaign tradition. Democratic and NeverTrump strategists have openly suggested that Biden should not debate because it would give too much legitimacy to someone they believe wants to be a dictator.

“The networks want their show, but to give the challenger equal status on a TV stage would be a dire normalization of his attempted coup,” David Frum wrote in the Atlantic.

Republicans and conservatives — myself included — were skeptical that Biden would debate due to his declining health and guessed he might use Frum’s argument as a convenient excuse to weasel out of the process. But perhaps a recent poll showing Trump up in five swing states spooked the Biden campaign into action. Of course, the bar is set so low for Biden that even completing a ninety-minute debate, regardless of what comes out of his mouth, will be seen as a success.

There is also still more than a month left before the CNN debate, and by taking the Commission for Presidential Debates out of the equation, Biden has ensured more direct clashes with the Trump campaign over rules and decorum. The president can walk at any point by accusing Trump of making unreasonable demands and still get away with the presumption that he really wanted to debate. In fact, after Trump said publicly that he would also participate in a third debate with Fox News in October, the Biden campaign accused him of “playing games.” No one should consider a debate set in stone until the two candidates literally appear on stage in June. 

-Amber Duke

On our radar

ROCK ’N’ ROLL FANTASY Secretary of state Antony Blinken capped off his surprise trip to Kyiv on Tuesday night by joining a local Ukrainian punk band for a performance of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” 

BIDEN’S INFLATION ALBATROSS The Washington Post fact checker awarded President Joe Biden four “Pinocchios” for his false claim that inflation was at 9 percent when he took office. The real figure was 1.4 percent in January 2021. 

SLOVAKIAN TERROR The prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was shot multiple times while greeting supporters on Wednesday. Biden said he was “alarmed” by the assassination attempt. Fico is in critical condition.

Cohen crossed 

Former president Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche began his cross-examination of Michael Cohen on Tuesday by revisiting some of Trump’s former fixer’s statements.

“You went on TikTok and called me a ‘crying little shit,’” Blanche said after introducing himself.

“That sounds like something I would say,” Cohen interjected.

“Objection,” prosecution alleged. “Sustained,” the judge responded.

Things only got testier, with all of these questions to Cohen being answered in the affirmative:

“You referred to Trump as a ‘dictator douchebag.’”

“You said he should go back to ‘where he belongs, in a fucking cage like a fucking animal.’”

“You also talked on [your podcast] Mea Culpa of your desire to see Trump get convicted in this case?”

“Have you regularly commented on your podcasts that you want President Trump convicted in this case?”

Sounds like a disgruntled, profane and vengeful person, doesn’t he? Well, that was exactly the point of Trump’s defense. In portraying Cohen as someone who irrationally hates his former client, who he once called a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain,” the jurors might find it harder to trust Cohen’s testimony against him. 

Before the court’s doors closed Tuesday, prosecution already signaled it plans no further witnesses after Cohen’s testimony. Trump’s team thus has the ball in its court when court reconvenes. Will they bring new witnesses? Will Trump himself, as he previously hinted, testify in his own defense?

While it would be unconventional for Trump to testify, the whole case is pretty unconventional. It isn’t unreasonable to assume that things may only get crazier.

–Juan P. Villasmil

Money can’t buy a Maryland Senate seat 

Annapolis, Maryland

Money can’t buy you everything. Congressman David Trone learned this hard lesson last night after lighting more than $60 million of his own money on fire in Maryland’s Democratic Senate primary. He got thrashed in by a little-known county executive named Angela Alsobrooks, who will now go up against former Republican governor Larry Hogan in November.

In the span of just a few months, Trone saturated the airwaves with ads and the streets with signs touting his supposed record of bipartisanship and problem-solving. But this couldn’t entirely paper over his reported threats to “execute” delivery workers, racially insensitive gaffes and temperamental explosions on the campaign trail. Trone ended up spending more than $300 per vote — or the cost of a very nice bottle of red at one of his Total Wine stores. 

Now, all eyes turn to the affable former governor, Hogan, who moved to neuter the Democrats’ two main attacks against him: abortion and Donald Trump. During his victory speech, he reiterated his longtime pro-choice bona fides and reminded attendees of how his father was the first Republican to back the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. No president, current or former, will stand in Hogan’s way of doing what’s right by Marylanders, he said.

With Trone’s millions of dollars now on the sidelines, all that stands between Hogan and a new office in Washington, DC is Prince George’s County executive Angela Alsobrooks — and the Old Line State’s overwhelming, but not insurmountable, number of Democrats.

Across the country, both parties’ national establishments racked up major wins. In Maryland, AIPAC’s investment in state senator Sarah Elfreth elevated her over former Capitol Hill police officer Harry Dunn in a safe blue seat. In Nebraska, Congressman Don Bacon easily won renomination, even though the chair of his state’s GOP openly backed his opponent.

Over in West Virginia, “Big Jim” Justice easily won his primary for Senate against Representative Alex Mooney. Attorney general Patrick Morrissey’s win in the open gubernatorial primary was a big feather in the cap for both the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. 

Up next? Primaries in Georgia, Kentucky, Idaho and Oregon on Tuesday.

–Matthew Foldi