If there is one skill that President Donald Trump has consistently demonstrated ever since he first came down the escalator, it is his almost supernatural ability to turn a loss into a win and to do so by counter-punching twice as hard.
He fought back against the Clintons’ attacks over the Hollywood Access tape by bringing Bill Clinton’s accusers to the second debate with Hillary. He turned his Twitter ban into a successful multi-billion-dollar company. And he has turned the numerous legal attacks against him into a rallying cry against an increasingly authoritarian government and weaponized judicial system, thus causing his poll numbers and fundraising to skyrocket.
So too can this tactic be used with regards to one of the biggest questions regarding the coming general election campaign: Will Biden agree to debate President Trump?
Hidin’ Biden
In recent weeks, Biden has increasingly refused to answer as to whether or not he would agree to a debate against Trump in the fall. In every case, he has attempted to turn it back on Trump, suggesting that the former president would somehow be to blame for a debate not happening. President Trump, in turn, has not let up on the criticisms, taunting Biden with an empty podium at one of his latest rallies.
While it is increasingly obvious to those with common sense that Biden’s reticence about another series of debates is due to his declining mental health and increasing physical weakness, the mainstream media would sweep it all up for the current occupant of the White House in the event he says no to the debates. One likely line of attack would be to suggest that Biden acted nobly in refusing to give a platform to a so-called “insurrectionist” or some such nonsense.
And although conventional wisdom would suggest that Biden ducking the debates would hurt him, we must remember that these are not conventional times. In addition to the mainstream media running cover for Biden still to this day, there is the fact that Biden’s tactic of quite literally campaigning from his basement did not backfire on him in 2020. With the help of widespread voter fraud, it was just enough for him to seize power.
The mere absence of Biden will not be enough to effectively attack him and make him feel the heat for his cowardice. There must still be a debate.
I’ll Do It Myself
In the event that Joe Biden officially declines to join President Trump in the traditional series of three debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates, President Trump should respond by doing what he does best: Stake out his own path.
President Trump should vow to hold a debate anyway, on any given platform of his choice. It could be hosted by Newsmax or Fox News. It could be featured on X with Tucker Carlson moderating, or perhaps even Elon Musk himself. It could be hosted by RSBN, which streams on YouTube and many other popular websites. Some have even suggested Joe Rogan as a moderator. There is no shortage of alternatives in the media sphere in the year 2024.
As long as the platform is reasonably accessible, people will flock to watch it, just as they did with Tucker’s interview with Vladimir Putin. No amount of boycott attempts by the mainstream media will be able to suppress the inherent interest in the spectacle.
But of course, one will naturally ask: How can Trump debate if Biden doesn’t show up? That is where the second factor comes in. While Trump himself would be the primary promoter of the event, the real draw would come from his opponent.
President Trump should welcome Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the debate stage in Biden’s place.
Trump vs. Kennedy
It goes without saying that RFK Jr. is on track to be the most successful third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 and perhaps even since George Wallace in 1968. Not only is he taking advantage of the ever-increasing political polarization to present himself as a viable alternative to two bickering parties, but his name has carried him to much greater heights than anything the Green or Libertarian Parties could ever dream of achieving.
As it stands now, however, even Kennedy is not likely to qualify for the official CPD debates. The only criteria he currently meets is the same one that any candidate must meet to run for president: constitutional eligibility to run.
However, Kennedy is still well below the electoral requirement of appearing on enough state ballots to possibly achieve 270 electoral votes (he is currently on the ballot, in some capacity, in enough states to net just 147 votes), and his poll numbers right now are hovering in the 10% range, below the 15% that will be required by the CPD just prior to the first debate in September.
Naturally, President Trump’s decision to host his own debate would come without such strict requirements, and his offer alone is all that Kennedy needs to get on the stage. At that point, Kennedy would be a fool to decline, as it would give him the single biggest platform for his campaign since the Super Bowl.
A New Dichotomy
By virtue of Robert Kennedy Jr. simply being on the stage with President Trump, several key victories will be had even before either candidate opens their mouth.
Firstly, the image of Kennedy, not Biden, standing opposite Trump will subconsciously create a new political dichotomy for all voters who are watching. It will be Kennedy, not Biden, who becomes the new left-wing alternative to Trump in their minds. The fact that an independent candidate was more willing to debate Trump than the incumbent president and official Democratic nominee will undoubtedly give most viewers pause for thought and thus make them more likely to not only reject Biden but to strongly consider Kennedy.
Secondly, as the only other opponent to Trump on the stage, the two candidates will naturally clash and focus on their disagreements rather than their common ground since they have no one else to debate. This will work to both Trump’s benefit and Biden’s detriment. Any right-wingers or even Trump supporters who may have been considering Kennedy will naturally flock back to Trump, while Biden supporters and Democrats who are disillusioned with Biden or considering Kennedy will be more likely to support him.
Third, a one-on-one debate between Kennedy and Trump could even allow viewers to forgive the one truly great obstacle that Kennedy has in his presidential ambitions: His voice.
Just as important as physical image, a voice matters greatly in politics. A soft, relaxed voice of someone like Reagan, or a unique and instantly recognizable voice of someone like Trump, is far more likely to get elected than the shrill, intolerable voice of someone like Hillary Clinton. Robert Kennedy Jr. unfortunately suffers from an affliction that makes his voice shaky and unstable, something he has addressed in the past. If it were a three-way debate with Trump, Biden, and Kennedy, most viewers would find it easy to just dismiss Kennedy due to his voice and simply focus on the other two candidates.
But with just two participants on stage, viewers will have no choice but to listen to Kennedy’s voice. Once they get past the initial wariness of the first few minutes, many may soon find that his platform and beliefs are intriguing enough that they can look past the shaky voice and believe in the man himself, or at least in what his name represents.
A Make-or-Break Debate
If this comes to pass, a successful Trump vs. Kennedy debate would make Biden (or at least his handlers) furiously regret the decision to not debate Trump after all. President Trump could not only claim to be the true defender of democratic norms such as the tradition of the debate, but he would also give a massive shot in the arm to Kennedy’s campaign, guaranteeing that his poll numbers would rise at the expense of Biden’s.
Many historical parallels have been drawn between the coming 2024 election and past contests, including 1992, 1980, and 1968. But, if this hypothetical Trump vs. Kennedy debate plays out as described here, it could prove to be the single most influential presidential debate since the last debate that featured a Kennedy debating a Republican nominee, albeit with the opposite outcome in terms of which party benefits in the end.