Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC has shared the topics for the upcoming presidential debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. The two candidates will discuss the coronavirus pandemic, American families, race in America, climate change, national security, and leadership.
After learning of the topic choices, President Donald Trump has pushed back. The President’s team would like the two candidates to discuss foreign policy.
“As is the long-standing custom, and as has been promised by the Commission on Presidential Debates, we had expected that foreign policy would be the central focus of the October 22 debate. We urge you to recalibrate the topics and return to subjects which had already been confirmed,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien stated.
“The Commission’s pro-Biden antics have turned the entire debate season into a fiasco and it is little wonder why the public has lost faith in its objectivity.”
The Biden campaign pushed back on Trump’s response. Sources close to the former Vice President said that Trump is looking to avoid discussions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The campaigns and the Commission agreed months ago that the debate moderator would choose the topics,” Biden’s national press secretary TJ Ducklo said.
“The Trump campaign is lying about that now because Donald Trump is afraid to face more questions about his disastrous COVID response. As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than he is getting a nation in crisis the help it needs.”
Despite his frustration with the debate topics, Stepien did not say that Trump would opt out of the final debate. If the two candidates stay the course, they will meet in Nashville, Tennessee on October 22, 2020 at 9 p.m. on the campus of Belmont University.
