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Debates

There's No Good Reason to Keep RFK Jr. Off the Debate Stage

I thought democracy was at stake?

Robby Soave | 6.27.2024 5:00 PM

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RFK Jr. | Lev Radin/Sipa USA/Newscom
RFK Jr. (Lev Radin/Sipa USA/Newscom)

Tonight's the night: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off on the debate stage—though they might spend more time arguing with the moderators than with each other. CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are slated to grill the candidates, whose microphones will be muted when it's the other person's turn to speak. This means Trump and Biden won't be able to talk over each other—a good thing, broadly speaking—but they may not be able to engage in much cross-chatter at all.

Under such conditions, the debate might simply feel like two separate interviews, with the candidates fielding different questions from the moderators and interacting very little. Only time will tell.

That said, the most serious problem with this first debate is that it's missing a candidate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr, whose independent bid for the presidency has attracted a non-negligible base of support. There is no good reason to exclude RFK JR. from the debate—the voters deserve to hear from him, too.

Arguments that RFK Jr. has failed to garner significantly high poll numbers to justify inclusion in the debate ring especially hollow this year, given that Biden, Trump, and CNN have agreed to throw out the rule book. Indeed, for the first time in my lifetime (i.e., since 1988), the Commission on Presidential Debates—the nonprofit group that organizes the debates—is out of the picture.

Libertarians will recall the commission's rules stated that candidates were eligible to appear in the debate if they had cleared a 15 percent support threshold in presidential polls. This meant that Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate in 2016, was absent from the Trump-Clinton debates—despite receiving 13 percent approval in some polls.

There's nothing sacred about the 15 percent figure; it's an arbitrarily determined hurdle to clear. Having bucked the commission, the candidates and the network could have come up with different rules. They've certainly agreed to do some things differently: the aforementioned microphone situation, no live audience, an earlier-than-anticipated debate date, etc.

But, no. CNN announced last week that RFK Jr. had failed to meet the network's criteria: at least 15 percent in four reputable polls and ballot qualification in enough states to theoretically win 270 electoral votes. The Kennedy campaign has contested this second aspect by noting that neither Trump nor Biden are technically eligible under this criterion, since their respective parties have not yet officially nominated them. As for the polls, RFK Jr. has exceeded the (entirely arbitrary) 15 percent threshold in three of them, according to Politico. He's damn close in several others.

The real reason CNN is excluding RFK Jr., of course, is that Trump and Biden steadfastly refused to appear alongside him. The major party candidates agree on very little, but one thing they do agree on is that they should not have to share the stage with anyone else. That was their deal with CNN, and CNN has dutifully obeyed, according to The New York Times.

"They want it to be just the two candidates and the moderator—without the raucous in-person audiences that Mr. Trump feeds on and without the participation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or other independent or third-party candidates," reported The Times in May.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Biden and Trump wouldn't have participated in a debate with RFK Jr., and thus CNN was always going to establish some criteria that wound up excluding Kennedy. The mainstream media insists that democracy itself is at stake in this election, but they won't give voters an opportunity to hear from the highest-polling third-party candidate in 30 years.

 

Debate Flashback

Reason's Matt Welch revisited the first Trump-Biden debate in 2020, noting that Trump's positions on the pandemic look considerably more compelling from the vantage point of 2024—especially when compared with Biden, whose subsequent administration continued and intensified the most intrusive COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

"Biden's CDC recommended universal congregate-setting masking—like, for two-year-olds—well into 2022, based on the flimsiest of evidence," writes Welch. "He imposed vaccine mandates, inaccurately characterized the disease as a 'pandemic of the unvaccinated,' and accused social media companies of 'killing people.' It's honestly not good for your blood pressure to remember any of this."

Similarly, I recently surveyed the last debate of the 2020 election cycle, which took place in October, just days after the release of The New York Post's infamous Hunter Biden laptop story. That story was widely suppressed on social media and branded as likely Russian misinformation by mainstream media. When Trump brought up the laptop during the debate, Biden also dismissed the story as obviously linked to Russian election interference; he cited the letter from 50 current and former national intelligence officials who had concluded that the laptop resembled a Russian disinformation campaign.

After Biden made the assertion, Trump appeared dumbfounded. "You're saying the laptop is another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax?" asked Trump incredulously. "You got to be kidding."

Four years later, no evidence has ever emerged that the laptop was part of a Russian influence operation. Russia hoax, indeed.

 

This Week on Free Media

I'm joined by Amber Duke to discuss CNN's treatment of a Trump spokesperson, The View's deference to teachers union talking points, MSNBC recoiling in horror at the term "illegal immigrant," and the media's reaction to Julian Assange's release from prison.

 

Worth Watching

Because I don't spend enough time arguing with people on television (that's a joke), I agreed to participate in a debate about immigration for the financial news site Zero Hedge. It was me and Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver vs. conservative media figure Jack Posobiec and politico Ryan Girdusky—and things got heated.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

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NEXT: Divided Over Purdue Pharma Deal, SCOTUS Unites in Accepting a Dubious OxyContin Narrative

Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.

DebatesPresidential DebateJoe BidenDonald TrumpRobert Kennedy Jr.Election 2024Campaigns/Elections
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  1. Don't look at me!   11 months ago

    He’s not on the debate stage because he’s not drawing any support.

    1. mattwa   11 months ago

      This explains why they had to throw out one of the polls so he could fail to meet the one criteria Trump and Biden do.

      1. VULGAR MADMAN   11 months ago

        Nice little club they have there.

  2. Zeb   11 months ago

    Democracy depends on people not voting for the wrong candidates.

    1. Eeyore   11 months ago

      Democracy is getting to choose between the two worst possible candidates.

      1. mattwa   11 months ago

        Shut up and be glad they are giving you a choice at all.

        1. VULGAR MADMAN   11 months ago

          Once they take that choice away, it’s all over for them.

  3. JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)   11 months ago

    Love how Reason is focused on a debate stage while dem run election boards and lawyers are doing whatever they can to keep RFK Jr off of ballots.

    https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/27/north-carolinas-democrat-run-elections-board-stonewalls-letting-kennedy-west-on-ballot/

    1. Medulla Oblongata   11 months ago

      They did the same thing to the Greens last time.

  4. mattwa   11 months ago

    There is a very excellent reason for keeping Kennedy out of the debate - having someone who has actually thought about the subjects and gives real answers instead of parroting soundbites would set democracy back 50 years, at least.

    That justifies throwing out the Monmouth poll, which CNN has cited in the past, and so limiting Kennedy to only three polls over 15%.

  5. JFree   11 months ago

    This is not a debate stage. It is a joint press conference. What might look like a debate is the sort of stuff that also happens at say a WWE joint press conference (aka Smackdown). Except this one is geriatrics which apparently draws boomers.

    1. Medulla Oblongata   11 months ago

      That's pretty apt, actually.

  6. Mother's Lament   11 months ago

    Kennedy is worse than turnip or bidet. I wish I would have bookmarked the loser that predicted he was going to get Perot 92 numbers. He isn’t going to get Oliver 24 numbers.

    Kennedy is what you get if you take the worst of both of these assholes. Alex jones + Jenny McCarthy = RFK.

    1. Mother's Lament   11 months ago

      London poutine forever bitches!!!

      1. Mother's Lament (June is Banana Republic Month, celebrate responsibly)   11 months ago

        Fuck off, Shrike/Sarc. Wow, do I ever wish some irate parent would catch you.

        1. sarcasmic   11 months ago

          Stop socking yourself!

  7. Mother's Lament (June is Banana Republic Month, celebrate responsibly)   11 months ago

    "There's No Good Reason to Keep RFK Jr. Off the Debate Stage"

    Sure there is. He's a Kennedy so you can't call him doublehitler and the Orangemanbad/Russia stuff won't work either.

  8. Longtobefree   11 months ago

    Because OSHA has a safety limit of two crazy old men on a stage at the time.
    (a third might overwhelm the medics)

  9. chemjeff radical individualist   11 months ago

    And let's not forget Chase Oliver. Robby, I expected better from you.

    Of course it's not surprising, given how all of politics nowadays is saturated with identity politics. Policies and ideology don't matter, all that matters is how that candidate identifies. Just ignore that RFK Jr. wanted to execute 'climate change denialists'. He now identifies with the paranoid/reactionary/anti-government crowd, so the current crop of libertarians welcome him with open arms.

    1. JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)   11 months ago

      Chase polling at under 1% lol.

      Jeff. Anothet illegal raping a minor. Please defend again.

      1. Mother's Lament (June is Banana Republic Month, celebrate responsibly)   11 months ago

        But it's not rape rape if you ejaculate on the kid while she's being raped, just ask Jeff.

      2. chemjeff radical individualist   11 months ago

        Yes we know. Chase decided to wear a mask voluntarily during a pandemic. That makes him no different than a BernieBro.

        1. sarcasmic   11 months ago

          Unless you refused to wear a mask at all and went around lightly coughing on people at the grocery store, like Jesse bragged about doing because he thought it was funny, then you're a leftist who supported mandates.

          It is known.

  10. Gaear Grimsrud   11 months ago

    So RFK should be on the stage? What about Chase Oliver Robby? What's he? Chopped Liver? Why yes. Yes he is.

    1. JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)   11 months ago

      Donald duck may get more votes than oliver.

  11. The Margrave of Azilia   11 months ago

    I see they’ve gotten rid of the pretense of a 501(c)(3) – which is forbidden by statute from endorsing or opposing candidates – deciding, on “nonpartisan” criteria, to host only Dem and Rep candidates. Though it was a nice racket while it lasted – the IRS never went after them for partisanship (not that censoring nonprofits is constitutional, just that the IRS *thinks* it’s constitutional, which exposes their motives when they fail to enforce their own rules against fake 501(c)(3) nonprofits).

  12. Roberta   11 months ago

    Did Joe Biden just say, AGAIN, that his SON fought at D-Day??!!!

  13. BadLib   11 months ago

    _

    There is no good reason to exclude RFK JR. from the debate—the voters deserve to hear from him, too.

    Yes there is. That reason is that he has approximately zero chance of winning or even being competitive. IF RFK Jr should be on the stage why shouldn’t virtually every other candidate (Libertarian, Green, Democratic Socialist, etc) be as well. They all have effectively equal chances of winning in November – i.e. zero chance.

    To take time away from the two viable candidates would not be doing a service to the public which, unfortunately, has to choose from two very, very bad choices. The purpose of the debates is to inform the public (although in this case the public has seen years of each candidate in the role they are seeking so it’s not clear that there’s much to be learned).

    1. Rick James   11 months ago

      Yo, Robby, this... this is how you Democracy-at-stake it.

  14. Rick James   11 months ago

    I thought democracy was at stake?

    Oh Robby, you sweet summer child.

  15. Medulla Oblongata   11 months ago

    CNN is a private company and all that.

  16. Mickey Rat   11 months ago

    "There is no good reason to exclude RFK JR. from the debate—the voters deserve to hear from him, too."

    The "debate" was a joint interview between the Biden and Trump Campaigns. They are under no obligation to bring in other candidates, and have every incentive to exclude RFK jr. That is the reason, whether you think it is good or not.

  17. AT   11 months ago

    Because two crazy people on stage wasn't enough for you?

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