Poor CNN
There was one clear loser in the Great Presidential Debate of 2024: CNN.
On Thursday night, a breathless nation watched as the top two 2024 presidential contenders — incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — sparred onstage in a metaphorical boxing match of political heavyweight champions.
The big debate was broadcast by CNN and moderated by two of the network’s top media personalities. The terms of The Debate were largely dictated by President Joe Biden’s reelection team — an unusually early first debate and no studio audience.
And CNN.
CNN network execs, in their infinite wisdom, set the additional condition that each candidate’s microphone would be silenced after a timed response. This would, the network obviously hoped, prevent the shouting and crosstalk that had inevitably erupted during previous debates.
Surely network execs were tired of getting feedback from disgruntled viewer focus groups who found the resulting cacophony unwatchable, to say nothing of unpersuasive.
Under those three terms — early date, no audience, muted mics — the Trump reelection team immediately agreed to two debates in June and September.
After the first debate on Thursday night, it will be interesting to see how the formatting is altered.