Morning Jolt: The Debate Expectations Game

TODAY'S JOLT IS SPONSORED BY

WITH NOAH ROTHMAN

June 25 2024

The Debate Expectations Game

This is Noah Rothman, filling in for Jim Geraghty.

On the menu today: both presidential campaigns' efforts to manage expectations ahead of Thursday night's debate.

Exercises in Face-Saving

When Donald Trump's team announced that it had accepted the Biden campaign's terms for at least two forthcoming debates, it did so with bravado. Those terms included limiting debate access to a handful of mainstream networks, restricting moderators to those networks' on-air personalities, and eliminating a live audience — all conditions expected to benefit Joe Biden. But Trump had been goading Biden into a debate for weeks, and the former president did not want to invite the accusation that his confidence was conditional. After all, what is there to be worried about? "Crooked Joe Biden is the worst debater I have ever faced," Trump said upon his acceptance of Biden's terms. "He can't put two sentences together."

Trump's self-assuredness may have been justified — Thursday night's performance will tell the tale — but it ...

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