OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump says he’s prepared to debate President Joe Biden “anytime, anyplace” ahead of the November presidential election, saying it would be “for the good of the country.”
“You can see we have an empty podium right here to my right. You know what that is? That’s for Joe Biden,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Wisconsin, where he had an empty mic stand next to his podium, symbolic of his eagerness to debate Biden.
“I’m trying to get him to debate,” he added. “I’m calling on ‘Crooked Joe’ to debate anytime, anyplace. We’ll do it any way you want, Joe.”
The mic stand was adorned with a black placard that read, “Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace.”
“Let’s go have a good, solid, friendly debate,” Trump said.
Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler called the stunt a “weak merch play from a guy desperate to avoid talking about how he’s got no cash, no campaign infrastructure, and no answer for how his chaotic, divisive, and violent campaign is going to win this November.”
“Trump said last fall only people who are losing want debates,” Tyler added. “At least we agree on something.”
Biden stated last month that he might not participate in a debate with Trump before their expected rematch in the election.
“It depends on his behavior,” Biden said.
Trump echoed a similar tune late last month.
During an interview with Dan Bongino for his radio show, Trump said that he did not think Biden would remain in the race but called on him to debate “immediately.”
“And I don’t think he’s going to run. I don’t know if it’s donors or otherwise. It might be his family. It might be something,” Trump said. “I don’t think he’s gonna run, but I’d like to call for, immediately, debates. I’d like to debate him now because we should debate. We should debate for the good of the country. So I will officially go on your show call.”
Biden’s campaign continues to receive bad electoral news from the most important swing states the deeper the nation enters the election cycle.
A CNN segment on Tuesday pointed out that Biden is behind former President Donald Trump in six of seven swing states—Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia—while Biden leads by three points in Wisconsin.
What’s more, Trump is leading Biden on issues that are also the biggest concerns for voters this cycle.
“Look at the why: what is going on? Alright, trusted more, again, this is across all of these key seven swing states,” CNN political analyst Harry Enten said.
“Look, Donald Trump is trusted more than Joe Biden in basically all the important issues — the economy, inflation, 20-point lead, immigration, border, 20-point lead, the Israel-Hamas war, 14-point lead, the Russia-Ukraine war, nine-point lead, protecting democracy, well within the margin of error, which I think is something the that should worry that Biden camp, given that has been harping and Democrats been harping on this,” Enten continued. “Just a one-point advantage.
“On abortion, Democrats and Joe Biden have a 12-point advantage. They would love this campaign to be about abortion, but at this particular point, it‘s about this. And it‘s about this with perhaps a little bit of this,” Enten said, pointing out the main concerns of voters, “and all these issues favor Donald Trump.”
The host pointed out that Democrats and Biden have been “running on protecting democracy, and that’s a wash right now.”
“It is a Wash. And this is not the only poll that shows… was looking at a Quinnipiac University poll last month, last week, excuse me, that showed the same thing,” Enten said. “And it‘s something that RFK Jr. said to our colleague, Erin Burnett, saying, I‘m not quite sure — Joe Biden may be worse for protecting democracy. It turns out a lot of voters agree on that.
“One little last thing I‘ll point out — is the U.S. on the right track or wrong track of presidential elections? Right track, 25 percent average when the president’s party loses since 1980 — 25% (now for Biden). It looks very much that type of campaign that we‘ve seen before right now,” Enten concluded.
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