
© Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Kevin LamarqueUS President Donald Trump • Former VP Joe Biden
Joe Biden is a stumbling speaker at the best of times, and Donald Trump is the insult king. With the two set to engage in three televised debates, the
New York Times has decided that
Biden needs an out."I worry about Joe Biden debating Donald Trump,"
New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman wrote on Tuesday. Friedman is likely not the only liberal pundit sweating at the prospect.
Donald Trump, for all his ineloquence, is a brutal debater, well used to ripping his opponents apart with off-the-cuff insults and jibes.
Joe Biden, by contrast, mumbles and fumbles his way even through prepared statements, and often forgets where he is, what he's
talking about, and
confuses figures.
Thankfully for Team Joe,
Friedman offered up a roadmap for Biden to worm his way out of the traditional televised debates, the first of which is scheduled for late September. First, he argued,
Biden should demand Trump release his tax returns. Though Trump is not legally required to do this, his opponents have claimed that his reluctance to release his records belies some shadiness.
Secondly, Friedman reckons the
Biden camp should insist that the debates be fact-checked in real time by a team approved by both candidates. Ten minutes before the conclusion of the debates, the team should report on any "misleading statements, phony numbers or outright lies either candidate had uttered."
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