Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday accused President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump of “colluding” to exclude him from the upcoming debates, which Biden and Trump committed to participating earlier in the day.
“Presidents Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want,” Kennedy Jr. wrote on social media. “They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win. Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.”
The first debate is scheduled for June 27 and the second on September 10, barring any unforeseen developments, with parameters including no audience and microphones being cut off when a candidate’s allotted time is over.
Kennedy claims that by excluding him, Biden and Trump are avoiding discussion of their “eight years of mutual failure” on issues like deficits, wars, lockdowns, chronic disease, and inflation.
While Kennedy Jr. has not been explicitly barred from the debate, he has not yet met the criteria set by CNN, which includes being on enough state ballots to potentially earn 270 electoral votes and reaching 15% in four national polls. Currently, only Biden and Trump have qualified. However, later in the day Kennedy claim that he will qualify for the debate by the June 20 deadline.
The Biden campaign said in response to Kennedy’s accusation that the “reality” is that only Biden or Trump can win the election, and therefore, they should be the only ones on the debate stage.
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One Response
Trump is usually unable to stay on topic, and Biden has trouble staying awake – so yes, RFK Jr. would be unfair competition. However he has no chance of getting enough electoral votes to win (which would require being at least in third place and throwing the election into the House), so he’s simply place a place holder for those who can’t stand Trump or Biden. He really has no need to debate, since Trump and Biden can be counted on to make the case for “none of the above”.