Trump calls Biden a 'threat to democracy' and a 'nightmare for women' and rages at Joe's campaign for saying he might SKIP the debate just hours before CNN showdown
- Trump skipped out on Republican primary debates this year
- Biden camp said they 'assume' Trump will be in Atlanta tonight
President Joe Biden's campaign teased the possibility that Donald Trump won't show up to tonight's high stakes presidential debate, with millions set to tune in to watch their scheduled clash – prompting furious pushback from Trump and his camp.
'Listen, I think the Trump team is playing games that we’ve always seen them do it, right? They like to use debates as entertainment process. They like to complain about debates. Sometimes they skip out on debates,' said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler on CNN, which is hosting the debate.
'The president will be there tonight. We still assume that Donald Trump will be there as well,' he said, once again planning the seed of doubt.
Trump's campaign immediately rejected the idea when contacted by DailyMail.com.
'Of course' he will show up, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded. 'The Biden campaign just proved how desperate they are. Michael Tyler should be fired for his incompetence,' he said.
Trump fumed on his Truth Social site about Tyler's contention: 'JOE BIDEN IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY, AND A THREAT TO THE SURVIVAL AND EXISTENCE OF OUR COUNTRY ITSELF!!!'
'Biden’s policies are a NIGHTMARE FOR WOMEN when it comes to the Border and Immigration!' he wrote, after Tyler accused him from using 'games' to divert from issues in the race.
Tyler said Biden wanted to talk about 'the threat that Donald Trump poses to our democracy, most definitely seen on January 6th, but every day, again, out on the stump at his MAGA rallies, where he’s promising to pardon the insurrectionists of January 6th, the vast majority of American people again disagree with that.'
Trump also complained about Tyler getting on TV. 'WHY DOES FOXNEWS PUT ON SO MANY BIDEN PEOPLE, LIKE MICHAEL TYLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR BIDEN, WHO SPEWED LIES WITH VERY LITTLE PUSHBACK?' Trump wrote in another all-caps post. 'AMAZING!!!'
Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler suggested Donald Trump might not show up to tonight's debate
By all accounts Trump will be in Atlanta tonight for the contest. His campaign has blasted out arrival information for his private Boeing 757, which it calls 'Trump Force One.'
Tryler said Trump will treat the debate as a 'game,' after prior contests when he repeatedly interrupted Biden. In 2020, he brought along a Hunter Biden associate. In 2016, he brought Clinton rape accusers to the debate.
'But listen, the fact of the matter is they play these games because they know on the issues that matter. Most of the American people, Donald Trump is a loser, right?,' he said – appearing to try to get Trump's goat.
Trump skipped out on all of the Republican primary debates, in a decision that shielded him from being confronted head-on by critics. The move also had the effect of diminishing Republican rivals, although some former contenders have made it onto his vice presidential short list.
He also declined to take part in a zoom debate with Biden in 2020 after the second debate had to be scrapped when Trump tested positive for COVID-19.
'Of course' Trump will be there, his campaign responded
The Biden campaign pushed for an early debate, in a move that could allow them to reset the race. Trump's camp wanted the chance to take on the incumbent, 81, on stage
Trump's team jumped at the chance to get on the same stage as Biden, 81, when he agreed, in a negotiation that took place in public and in private that took the debates away from a decades-long relationship with a bipartisan commission on presidential debates.
Tyler dodged when asked by CNN's Kate Bolduan if Biden needed to 'win' the debate against Trump, 78, on. a day a new New York Times / Siena College poll showed him trailing nationally by four points.
'The president is ready. The president is excited. The president knows that all he has to do is present the fundamental choice in this election to the American people.' He said Biden would be on stage fighting for the American people and Trump would be 'fighting for himself.'
