US election 2020: What time is the Trump v Biden presidential debate? 

29 September 2020

We've had months of set-piece events, tightly controlled by a team of campaign staff. Well, that's about to end.

On the debate stage, candidates are on their own and in the whole campaign, this is the moment most fraught with risk.

Plenty can go wrong, so hold on tight.

Here's your handy guide.

When - and where - are the Trump v Biden debates?

There are three presidential debates on the agenda:

29 September in Cleveland, Ohio

15 October in Miami, Florida

22 October in Nashville, Tennessee

Vice-President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris will also go head-to-head:

7 October in Salt Lake City, Utah

They all take place from 21:00-22:30ET (02:00-03:30BST), with no commercial interruptions.

What's the format for the first debate?

Six questions in six segments, 15 minutes each. The segments are:


Mr Trump and Mr Biden will get two minutes apiece to respond to the question initially before the back-and-forth begins.

The first moderator is Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace .

A lot of people might think a Fox News anchor would give President Trump an easy ride but this is no Sean Hannity. Quite the opposite. The president has endured some of his most awkward moments sitting across from Wallace, whose command of the detail is legendary.

An interview in July went viral when Wallace told Mr Trump he'd taken the same cognitive ability test the president touted, telling him it was "not the hardest test".

Mr Trump - who typically favours Fox News - has dismissed Wallace as a "wannabe" of his father, Mike Wallace, who was an original reporter with CBS 60 Minutes.

A registered Democrat, Wallace has said moderating debates is a serious business as it helps "millions of people decide who we're going to elect".

For the second debate, we'll have C-Span's political editor Steve Scully moderating. That's a town hall format which means real people get to play a part too.


Finally, NBC's White House correspondent Kristen Welker will round out the debate season.

USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page will tackle the one and only vice-presidential debate.

naptu2:
The first US presidential election season that I paid close attention to was the 1988 election season (for obvious reasons. That was the season of Jesse Jackson vs. Dukakis). Prior to 1988 I had only known the candidates and the eventual winners. I had never watched the debates, primaries, inaugurations, inauguration balls, etc. I wasn’t really interested in them.

I have watched every US presidential election debate since 1988 (that’s 30 years) and there were usually only 2 presidential candidates at each of those debates. The only exception was in 1992 and that was because the phenomenon known as Ross Perot contested as an independent candidate. This is despite the fact that between 7 to 10 candidates contested each of those presidential elections.

Michael Dukakis debated against George Bush in the main 1988 presidential debate, despite the fact that there were 7 presidential candidates in the 1988 election.

George Bush the 1st, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot took part in the 1992 presidential debate, despite the fact that there were 9 presidential candidates in the 1992 election.

Only Bill Clinton and Bob Dole took part in the 1996 debate, despite the fact that there were 10 presidential candidates in the 1996 election. This was also despite the fact that Ross Perot contested the election again and also despite the fact that there was another phenomenon called Ralph Nader that contested in that election.

George Bush the 2nd and Al Gore were the only candidates that took part in the 2000 debate, despite the fact that there were 9 presidential candidates in that election.

It’s usually only the Republican and Democratic candidates that take part in the main presidential debates, despite the fact that there are other candidates. Some people also organise an alternative presidential debate in which candidates from the smaller parties and independents get to debate their ideas in front of the public, but its only the candidates of the two major parties that usually take part in the main presidential debates.

naptu2:
Some people hated him because of all the wars that he engaged in, some very seriously hated him because of what happened to black Americans during his tenure, some (like my dad) thought that he was a cowboy, but what nobody can deny was that he was a very funny man. I marvelled at the way that he created incredibly crazy jokes out of nothing.


For example, during the 1984 presidential debate, the moderator said that he was the oldest presidential candidate in history and that some members of his staff had told journalist that he was tired after the last debate. The moderator said that President Kennedy went several days without sleep during the Cuban Missile Crises, so, did he think that he was too old to contest for the presidency and did he think that he would be able to withstand the rigours of office.


President Reagan replied that he would not make age an issue of the campaign. He said that he would not exploit for political purposes his opponent's youth and inexperience. Even his opponent, Walter Mondale, could not help but bust out laughing. The joke completely disarmed the moderator.


What about the "bombing joke".

While waiting for the engineers to get ready for his live address to the nation, President Reagan jokingly made a little speech. (Now remember that this was in the middle of the Cold War). He said:

"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in 5 minutes".



Of course that was not broadcast live, but it was leaked by the media much later and it caused a lot of confusion in the Soviet Union.

naptu2:
This is just crazy! Watch this one, you need to watch this one.


This is the age joke and you need to watch it. Just look at Senator Mondale's reaction! Even he couldn't help but laugh. The joke completely took out the journalist.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJhCjMfRndk

naptu2:
What the he'll?

I was going to write about the bizarre reactions of Nigerians to the US elections, but I didn't have the time, but I've seen some pretty crazy things in the past 24 hours.

US presidential elections were just another form of entertainment to some Nigerians, while most Nigerians couldn't really care about them. They were just another item at the end of the news. We had our own problems.

That changed a bit in 1988 when Jesse Jackson ran for president. Many Nigerians supported him for obvious reasons and were disappointed when Dukakis won.

1992/1993 election season provided fantastic entertainment, Sistah Soja ambushing Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton's cardboard sign (It's the economy, stupid), George Bush 1st focusing on his foreign affairs track record, etc (it also had the best inaugural concert).


Bush vs Gore wasn't our problem, but it did provide drama, what with the perforated or half perforated ballot papers, etc.

But all of that changed in 2008. The way people went on about the election, you would think that Obama was running for the Nigerian presidency. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike bizarrely had a fund raising dinner for him in Lagos! People printed Obama thirty and other similar nonsense.

But this year takes the cake. I just saw an article about people in Abuja who are staging a protest against Donald Trump. Friends became enemies because of this election. People are arguing over whether Buhari was invited or not (like WTH). By the way, this same nonsense happened in 2012 when Bola Tinubu attended Obama's inauguration and ACN supporters claimed that Goodluck Jonathan was snubbed. When have you ever seen a sitting Nigerian head of state at a US presidential inauguration?? In fact, when have you seen a British, German, Japanese or Russian head of state at a US presidential inauguration? Does it mean that they were all snubbed?