The Democratic Nominee Should Refuse to Debate Donald Trump

[TexasTowelie]

The third Democratic Primary debate is rolling into Texas Southern University Thursday. The field of 20-plus candidates has been winnowed down to ten: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang. Though it’s possible some of the candidates who didn’t make the stage will see a comeback that gets them on the next debate, it’s likely that the eventual nominee will be one of the people in Houston having a lively debate about all manners of things. And no matter who the nominee is, she or he should not debate Donald Trump in the general election.

There is literally nothing to be gained by debating Donald Trump and everything to lose. In any debate he is involved in, only the opposition gets points taken off for being wrong or unprepared or outright lying. He is incapable of losing points because he fundamentally denies points exist unless he has more of them.

Remember the exact moment it became clear Mitt Romney realized he was never going to be president? Here, I’ll show you:

Mitt Romney accused Barack Obama of refusing to call the attack in Benghazi an act of terror. Obama calmly waited for him to dig himself a gold-plated grave, said “get the transcript,” had the moderator agree with him that Romney was either mistaken or lying, and you could see that Romney knew he has messed up catastrophically. That’s because for all his faults, Mitt Romney is a human being existing in reality as the the rest of us more or less perceive it and things like “being publicly wrong” matter to his self-image. It physically hurt Romney to be humiliated and caught out like that, and he could not hide the emotion. From that moment on, the election was a mopping up exercise for Obama.

Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/you-cant-out-debate-donald-trump-11349488

[DrToast]

1. Worst. Idea. Ever.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Agree totally

You can't win a debate with someone like Trump. Trump moves the goal posts and invents new ones everytime he speaks. Debating him is a bad idea. Let him publicize his delusions all by himself.

[RDANGELO]

3. I disagree.

First off, the voters expect that there will be debates, and they will hold that against a candidate who refuses to debate. This administration hasn't held a formal press conference in maybe a year. That means that there are all kinds of questions that haven't been answered. There are tons of lies and behaviors that Trump hasn't been confronted about.

[rampartc]

8. +1

our candidate must not only debate him, but not allow his hyper aggressive bullshit and hold him to the issues.

[extvbroadcaster]

4. Sadly, there is something to this

The media, and hence the debate moderators, are to this day unable to handle Trump. He spouts lies, won't admit when he is wrong, talks constantly, and uses juvenile insults to degrade his opponents. I don't look forward to a Biden - Trump debate. No matter what, Trump will lie, call Biden some name like "plugs" (referencing his hair plugs), and simply refuse to acknowledge facts. Say the moderators have facts and figures that show the economy is slowing. They put it to Trump, and he says that is wrong, the economy is great, he has put more people to work in high paying jobs, is saving coal, and on and on. By the time he shuts up, they are on to the next question. Horrible media tries to trap Trump, he let's them have it! Trump has not been exposed as a liar, but instead viewers are left with the impression that there are "two sides" and Trump is on the winning side! Expect 2 hours of this nonsense, and there is your debate. It accomplishes nothing. So I am not sure a debate really serves any purpose. One person, Trump, has no intention of debating, he just wants to spew his nonsense to his base. And he will.

[Thekaspervote]

5. I truly believe dotard will be the one to refuse a debate

[Peace06]

9. Thekaspervote

Agreed! I think he will be afraid to debate just about any of our candidates. Still, I would love to see Warren get ahold of him or Biden or Harris or Mayor Pete or any of them, really.
Actually, Hillary did well against him and she did not know yet the depth of his depravity as these candidates do. She was playing by established decorum.

[TomSlick]

6. Refusing to debate would look bad.

Refusing the fight is an admission you can't win.

[Me.]

7. She/He Won't Get The Chance

I'm betting the scairdy cat begs off with some excuse about secret talks or some such

[kstewart33]

10. Wow. That doesn't make any sense.

At all.

[DrFunkenstein]

11. Can We Just Force Him to Debate Bob Mueller?

But seriously, Warren is going to wipe the floor with him.