Supporters of US Democratic candidate Joe Biden say he should cancel the remaining debates with President Donald Trump.
Liberal commentators have lined up to urge Biden not to show up for the second and third presidential election debates this month after Tuesday night's debate in Cleveland, Ohio, descended into a shouting match.
Even before the face-off had ended, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough was telling Joe Biden's campaign not to let him do any more live debates with Trump, calling the angry debate between the two rivals a "disgrace."
"This is a disgrace, a low point in American debate history," Scarborough tweeted. "There is no reason, not one, that Joe Biden should participate in another debate."
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) September 30, 2020
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) September 30, 2020
"I think Biden has a decision to make," CNN's David Axelrod said. "I don’t think the country will be yearning for these. You know what will happen if Biden says he doesn’t want to dignify another debate. I don’t think the country wants another one of these spectacles.”
"I’m serious: Don’t do this again," New York Times columnist Frank Bruni told Biden on Wednesday. "You showed your willingness. You showed up. But another of these fiascos is beneath you. I’d add that it’s beneath America, if there’s even such a thing anymore."
In an article headlined "There's No Debating Donald Trump," NPR Boston contributor Steve Almond wrote: "There’s no angle in arguing with Trump’s word salads or engaging with his tabloid slander. The way to beat Trump is simply to quote Trump, over and over."
The University of Virginia Centre for Politics director Larry Sabato claimed it was impossible to debate with Trump.
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) September 30, 2020
"Trump has torn up so many norms and traditions with his radical behavior," claimed Eric Boehlert of PressRun. "So let’s add another one to the list — cancel the next two debates. Nobody will miss them."
Trump was also bullish about his performance the next day, boasting that he had successfully goaded Biden into disowning radical policies popular with the 'democratic socialist' left of his party.
On Thursday Trump tweeted that he would resist any attempts to change the rules of the remaining debates to prevent a repeat of Tuesday's chaos.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2020
Fellow Twitter users speculated that Democrats were scared to let the aging Biden go two more rounds with Trump. And the #JoeMustShow hashtag, which started two weeks ago to pressure Biden into debating Trump for four hours on UFC commentator Joe Rogan's podcast, has made a comeback.
— Roscoe Biggs 🇺🇸 (@MagaRosco) October 1, 2020
— Watcher678 (@watcher678) October 1, 2020
— ShelleyS 🇺🇸 (@SShellboat) October 1, 2020— Curious Cat (@Curious88157036) October 1, 2020
