California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) team slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ® counterproposal for a debate as a “joke” on Saturday, claiming that the Republican presidential candidate’s suggested rules are meant to “hide his insecurity and ineptitude.”
Besides during COVID, when in modern history did a debate not have an audience? I’ve already commented on the absurdity of the taped intro
Having an audience in debates is good TV, but it’s not good for debates.
In this case, it will be an especially loaded audience that gives Desantis a marked advantage. Why would Newsoms team agree to that instead of a neutral debate?
Again, the DeSantis memo specifies a 50/50 audience
A debate is supposed to be about discussing important topics to garner support. If the audience is already full of people who support one side or the other, then they’re just there for noise. And we should not be televising a cheering group of Nazis as a reasonable opponent.
A debate with a live audience is stupid. I don’t want anyone interrupting the actual debate and I don’t need people to clap to know when something good was said. It’s literally just done for entertainment.