Belmont University officials in Nashville didn’t say Thursday whether their school will, for certain, host the third and final scheduled presidential debate between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Democratic Party opponent Joe Biden.
Nor did Belmont officials say when they will host it — assuming it even happens at all.
Organizers had scheduled that third debate for Thursday, Oct. 22.
But things have changed.
This, after members of The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Thursday that the second debate, which they originally scheduled for next week in Miami, will take the form of a town meeting. The new format calls upon Trump and Biden to participate from separate and remote locations.
But Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a press release that the president will “pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden.”
“President Trump won the first debate despite a terrible and biased moderator in Chris Wallace, and everybody knows it. For the swamp creatures at the Presidential Debate Commission to now rush to Joe Biden’s defense by unilaterally canceling an in-person debate is pathetic,” Stepien said.
“That’s not what debates are about or how they’re done. Here are the facts: President Trump will have posted multiple negative tests prior to the debate, so there is no need for this unilateral declaration. The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without canceling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head.”
On that night Stepien said Trump will instead do a rally.
Belmont officials did not return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment on the matter Thursday. They also said nothing of it on their Facebook or Twitter pages or on their website’s press release page.
Biden Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield said in an emailed press release that Trump “clearly does not want to face questions from the voters about his failures on COVID and the economy.”
“Given the President’s refusal to participate on October 15th, we hope the Debate Commission will move the Biden-Trump Town Hall to October 22nd, so that the President is not able to evade accountability,” Bedingfield said.
Stepien, in another press release, said “a virtual debate is a non-starter and would clearly be a gift to Biden because he would be relying on his teleprompter from his basement bunker.”
“Voters should have the opportunity to directly question Biden’s 47-year failed record of leadership,” Stepien said.
“We agree that this should happen on October 22, and accordingly, the third debate should then be shifted back one week to October 29.”
As reported, Belmont officials said Monday they were “100 percent” prepared to host the last U.S. presidential debate. This, after doctors diagnosed Trump with COVID-19 and after he left Walter Reed Hospital. White House physician Sean Conley said in a Tuesday memorandum that the president is not showing any symptoms and that his vital signs remain stable.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Donald Trump and Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Belmont University Campus” by Lahti213. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Biden can dish out the browebeatings but can’t take them. One more debate and they might have to wheel ol’ Joe off to the dementia ward.