The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, according to the network, and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time.

Both candidates agreed to appear at a uniform podium, and their podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.

Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. While no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.

    • dhork@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      He’s gonna complain that he never agreed to it and use it as an excuse to back out

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Trump is just going to be shouting while Biden talks anyway. So the viewer will see Biden distracted and stuttering because half his attention will be on trying to ignore Trump, but the viewer will not hear it, beyond maybe a little background noise that’s picked up on Bidens mic.

      This is Trump’s strategy. He has done it before. They really need sound proof booths too.

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Did you forget that Biden was in the Senate for decades? All they do is make speeches 99% of the time they are in the chamber.

        Notice how Trump is only good in front of a friendly crowd. Biden has spoken publicly and privately in front of people who dislike him for most of his life. Biden is practicing now, and I suspect he will make Trump look like a fool.

        • Ersatz86@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Biden is practicing now, and I suspect he will make Trump look like oblige Trump’s mission to (further) substantiate himself a fool.

    • Capt. Wolf@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      “They wouldn’t even let me talk! How am I supposed to debate when I can’t talk all the time? Biden got to talk when it was his turn, but they wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise while he was talking to tell him how wrong he is… Also, what am I supposed to do with a pen and paper? Who uses a pen and paper in this day and age? Am I supposed to write a letter? Why can’t I have my phone to tweet live about how unfairly I’m being treated!? Literally the most rigged, one-sided debate in ALL of history! And I’d know! I’ve been warning everyone this whole time they’ll rig things from the start! Just like they RIGGED THE LAST ELECTION!!!”

  • Good_morning@lemmynsfw.com
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    4 months ago

    Honestly happy with the mic muting, wished it was a thing back then. But what’s even the point of this debate, who is going to watch it with bated breath struggling to decide?

    • morphballganon@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The goal is not to learn information about who the candidates already are. We already know who they are. The goal is to see them react to each other and have the more vitriolic candidate self-destruct on TV.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Each party has the goal of getting the other side to say something that will be a useful campaign sound bite. Maybe that will cause then to tone things down.

        Who am I kidding, Trump will go over the top as usual trying to rile Biden.

      • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Also so people can assess the vigor and wit of two candidates that each side has been calling decrepit and cognitively impaired.

    • slickgoat@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I’ll be watching with baited breath alright. It will be a show. One of them might actually die on stage. That’s not even the least spectacular thing that could happen.

    • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I’m not American and don’t much care about American politics but having a debate between 2 people both so old they can actually die on stage while age cooked their brains at least 5 years ago is a spectacle I’m not missing.

    • CasualPenguin@reddthat.com
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      4 months ago

      I cannot possibly fathom a world in which orange incontinence personified shows up understanding he can be muted.

      I can only imagine either the fact that they will be muted is being overstated to us, or that he doesnt understand and will be charging his diaper ass across the stage the second that he realizes people can no longer hear him.

      • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        He doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. He can just lie about everything. I’m sure he’ll just call it censorship and Fox News will say Biden will come for “conservatives” next.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Letting the parties replace the non partisan committee is still a terrible choice. Unfortunately both parties agreed it was best if they just worked together directly to set these up, and it only includes their two parties.

    They’re never going to give that power back up. They’re never going to invite a 3d party. And with how often the two parties actually work out deals, I feel like a lot of future debates are gonna be cancelled.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      Honestly, it’s perfect. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a heated debate where if someone is an asshole their mic gets muted, and you can still faintly hear them yelling in the background through other people’s mics while conversation continues among the people whose mics are still active. Or, where they try to barge their way over and grab some other mic that’s still active. I’ve observed both of these, and they are exactly what we need right now.

      I don’t for a second imagine that this debate will remain civil or with any level of decorum, if it does happen, whatever the rules are. But the optics that could ensue from mic muting are exactly what our political discourse needs right now. Like, completely. To a T.

      • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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        4 months ago

        I might just be too cynical at this point. It’d be fun to see, but at this point I suspect that any attempt to keep Trump, and I won’t pretend to think it’s about anyone but him really given the history, in check will be brushed off as ‘the biased,unfair moderators are just trying to silence him’ rather than convincing any of his followers he might be a bit too volatile for public office.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      they should put them in a sound proof box, pipe in the what the other guy is saying when it’s not their turn, and mute the off-mic in the broadcast… but give us subtitles so we can still read what they’re saying.

  • Default_Defect@midwest.social
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    4 months ago

    Hopefully the mics, while muted, will still be recording audio so they can release Trump loudly shitting his pants when he thinks no one can hear.

  • 8ender@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Going to watch to see if I can guess how many drugs they’ll prop up Trump with. I’m going to guess a lot

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I’m pro Biden in this lineup, but you know that dude is gonna have a “nap” and an “ice cream cone” before the debate too lol

      Edit lol I’m not sure if the downvotes are from trump fans or Biden fans. Clearly senior age politicians have carefully managed drug cocktails for focus and energy. This isn’t a secret, or a problem. If you can’t take a simple joke about ice cream vs meds, you should reevaluate your position on celebrities.

      • Crowfiend@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        But the guy that slept through his own criminal trial will definitely not need a nap before/during the debate.

        /s just in case

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Obviously. He’s gonna be super hopped up on diet coke and diet pills. And hamberders.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        You gotta be a teenager or something if you’re too cool for ice cream and naps

        Ice cream and a nap sounds awesome

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          Obviously not the joke I was making. Everyone likes those things.

          They would also love that presidential grade focus drug cocktail

  • Cornpop@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    This is going to be a train wreck. Two old senile men that belong in a nursing home yelling at each other.

  • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    Are commercial breaks standard during debates? I can’t recall a commercial break in the last 24 years of debates, but maybe that’s just me.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      Nope.

      This is the first year the parties boycotted the nopartisian comitte’s debates and instead are holding their own with CNN as the host

      Part of that deal, involves allowing ads.

      So CNN makes a bunch of money, the parties get influence over the debate, the questions being asked, and who can attend (only the two parties)

      Commercials are the most obvious part, but not the most impactful. This is dystopian as fuck and everyone seems to just be ok with it.

      • freebread@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        I’m not ok with it but I wasn’t paying attention enough to make sense of it until reading your comment. I feel like people would be more upset if they realized what is lost.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          people would be more upset if they realized what is lost.

          Bruh this is nothing.

          The DNC took away NH’s delegates because they wouldn’t violate state law by moving their primary.

          Just a few years after their lawyers said that primary’s can be rigged because they’re non binding.

          And people are just fucking going with it like it doesn’t matter because it was going to be Biden anyways.

          We’re getting frog boiled and people just get pissed when it’s brought up. I honestly don’t know why people haven’t been rioting

      • Optional@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Post Debate Stress Disorder

        After 2016 it’s just been a lot of night terrors, occasional screaming bouts, random sweating.

        Suffice to say, I’m really not looking forward to not one but two more of these exercises in horrifying pointlessness.