Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s campaign said he will continue to debate President Donald Trump amid calls that the former vice president should cancel the next two debates.
“I don’t know how many different ways we can say it. Yes, we are going to do the debates,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield told reporters after the debate on Tuesday, according to The Hill. “I would imagine there will be some additional conversations [with the Commission on Presidential Debates]. But yeah, we are committing to attending the debates.”
His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), said that Biden would attend the next two debates and is “never going to refuse to talk to the American people.” The next two Biden-Trump debates are Oct. 15 and Oct. 22.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a top Biden surrogate, said it wasn’t clear if Biden should commit to future debates.
“I’m going to leave that to the campaign,” he told Politico. “It was very hard to follow what was being said, and President Trump showed not just disrespect to the moderator, but to the American people who tuned in trying to figure out what his plans are,” Coons said. “The point of the debate is for the American people to make a decision, informed by hearing from the two candidates on what’s your record, what are your values? Joe Biden came prepared to respect the American people. Donald Trump did not.”
It came after former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who worked under President Barack Obama, said that there should be changes made for the next two debates, saying: “2020 is far too important to have to more episodes of that … Because that was not a debate.”
Meanwhile, several left-wing news outlets including The Atlantic and Slate both opined that the first debate should be the last.
Some Democrats said that Trump frequently interrupted Biden and talked over him, while also criticizing moderator Chris Wallace.
After the debate on Wednesday, Biden opened his day by delivering a speech alongside the rails of Cleveland’s train station. The former vice president’s campaign stenciled a map of the train journey he’s making with wife, Jill, on a board behind the lectern where he spoke.
Trump, meanwhile, was scheduled to attend an afternoon fundraiser in Shorewood, Minnesota, a suburb to the west of Minneapolis, before appearing at an evening campaign rally in Duluth on the shores of Lake Superior.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
