Joe Biden’s debate move could come back to haunt him

President Joe Biden may regret requesting that the first live televised debate against Donald Trump has muted microphones, according to a political analyst.

Katty Kay, a BBC correspondent who presents The Rest Is Politics podcast with former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, suggested that Biden’s team is preventing Trump from appearing “crazy” during interruptions of the president during Thursday’s CNN debate, and may have made a “mistake” by seeking this arrangement.

The Biden campaign requested candidates have their microphones muted when they are not recognized to speak, in order to promote “orderly proceeding” prior to accepting terms for the debate. CNN later confirmed that each candidate’s microphone will be muted except when it’s their turn to answer questions or deliver a response during the June 27 debate at their studio in Atlanta, Georgia.

The move was to avoid a repeat of the first televised presidential debate in September 2020 when Trump repeatedly interrupted and spoke over the top of Biden, eventually prompting Biden to tell Trump “will you shut up, man.” Biden was widely considered to have won the debate.

Speaking on The Rest Is Politics, Kay asked if Biden’s campaign possibly made an error by seeking the debate microphones be muted and therefore preventing Trump appearing like a “bullying interrupter.”

“I’ve spoken to enough people around Donald Trump now to start wondering whether actually that was a mistake,” Kay said. “Because the reason Joe Biden won that debate in 2020 was because there was Donald Trump interrupting him all the time.

“This time around, Donald Trump is not going to be able to interrupt him, at least not in terms of what the public is going to hear. So does that mean then that Donald Trump is not going to look like the kind of crazy, rude, bullying interrupter because his mic is going to be muted?”

Kay added that there is the “caveat” that Biden will still be able to hear what Trump is saying on the stage, meaning the Republican still has the opportunity to “rattle” the president on Thursday.

Michael Binder, a professor of political science at the University of North Florida, said that “constant interrupting and rude behavior” during a televised debate would be considered an issue for most White House hopefuls, but Trump “is not your ordinary political candidate” and Biden was right to seek muted microphones.

“Constant interrupting and having the debate devolve into arguments and insults would advantage Trump,” Binder told Newsweek.

“This way Biden can ignore Trump, give his responses and move on. While I think that Trump can hold his own in a stiff, rule laden ‘debate,’ he is at his best when he is riffing and poking people.”

In a recent interview with The Washington Examiner, Trump admitted that he was “very aggressive” in the first presidential debate with Biden in 2020.

“The second one, I was different, and I got great marks on the second one,” Trump said.

Ahead of Thursday’s debate, Trump and his supporters have frequently pushed the unsubstantiated claims that Biden may be on “drugs” to help his performance and energy during the 90-minute debate.

The claims have been interpreted as proof that MAGA supporters are in “panic mode” by already suggesting alternative reasons why Biden might beat Trump on Thursday.

Trump, 78, said he will take a drug test before Thursday’s debate if the 81-year-old president does.

“DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN???” Trump posted on Truth Social. “I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!”

Biden’s team has been contacted for comment via email.

A similar unfounded claim about Biden taking “performance enhancing drugs” was pushed by MAGA supporters in the wake of Biden’s State of the Union address in March. The president received high praise for the speech, which was seen as a pivotal moment in his reelection campaign.

Biden has been known to make gaffes and errors during public speaking down the years, with Trump and his supporters suggesting the president is in cognitive decline and not fit to run for office again.

Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast, Scaramucci suggested Biden’s team has worked on the president delivering solid quotes in two minute intervals during Thursday’s debate, which will then be pushed on social media.

“So [they] don’t really see this as a debate, as much as [they’ll] see this as a sound bite machine for Joe Biden post-debate,” said.