Presidential debates organisers to overhaul format after chaotic Trump v Biden clash

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has announced that it will consider changing the format of the remaining two debates, after Tuesday’s chaotic event was widely criticised.

During Tuesday’s presidential debate, which is planned to be the first of three before 3 November’s election, Mr Trump repeatedly spoke over Mr Biden and avoided answering questions posed by the moderator, Fox News host Chris Wallace.

At one point, the former vice president told Mr Trump: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential,” after he interrupted him, and Wallace had to regularly shout in order to keep the conversation moving.

On Wednesday, the commission, which sponsors televised debates in the US, released a statement, which read: “Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.

“The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”

The organisation added: “The Commission is grateful to Chris Wallace for the professionalism and skill he brought to last night’s debate and intends to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.” 

The format for presidential debates are designed following weeks of negotiations between the Democratic and Republican candidates, which Wallace reminded Mr Trump of when he broke the agreed terms, according to Bloomberg.

The two candidate’s camps agreed on six 15 minute sections dedicated to an individual topic each, with both Mr Trump and Mr Biden allowed two minutes interrupted to speak.

However, after the president repeatedly interrupted Mr Biden, Wallace told him to stop speaking over the Democratic candidate and reminded Mr Trump that he had agreed to the format.

Following Tuesday’s event in Ohio, several political pundits, alongside supporters of the Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden, called for the former vice president to drop out of the remaining two debates.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and a former Republican congressman, told the former vice president that he should refuse to take part in any more debates.

Mr Scarborough, who left the Republican party to became an Independent after Mr Trump became president, wrote: “This is a colossal waste of the American people’s time.

“If they are not going to cut his mic so we can have an exchange of ideas, then Biden should not attend any more debates.”

He added: “Hey Team Biden, if this continues you, pull him off the stage. And do not do anymore debates. This is a disgrace.”

David Axelrod, who worked with Mr Biden while a senior adviser to former president Barack Obama, said that he should consider not attending the two future debates.

“I think Biden has a decision to make,” he 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.”

Journalist Eric Boehlert echoed those remarks and uploaded an article to PressRun.Media on Monday morning titled, “call off the next two debates,” which he shared on Twitter with the caption: “It’s not possible to stage a two-person debate when one of them is a sociopath.”

In the article, Mr Boehlert wrote: “Trump turned Tuesday’s presidential debate not only into a brawl, but also a national embarrassment.

“Behaving like a petulant teenager, Trump rolled his eyes, constantly interrupted, hectored, tried to pick fights, and generally made a fool of himself as more than 80 million Americans tuned in, most of whom were likely thinking, ‘What have we become as a nation?’”

However, Mr Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris dismissed the idea that the former vice president will refuse to take part in any future debates.

Speaking on CNN, Ms Harris said: “Joe Biden’s never going to refuse to talk to the American people.”

In a call with reporters, which included members of The Hill, Biden deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield said: “We are going to the debates, guys. I don’t know how many different ways we can say it. Yes, we are going to do the debates.

She added: “I would imagine there will be some additional conversations [with the Commission on Presidential Debates]. But yeah, we are committing to attending the debates.”

The second presidential debate is scheduled to take place on 15 October in Miami with C-SPAN's Steve Scully moderating.