Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of the presumptive GOP nominee and former President Donald Trump, is voicing her opinions regarding the upcoming debates between Trump and President Joe Biden. After Trump swiftly accepted Biden’s unexpected challenge to two debates, Lara Trump initially wrote with enthusiasm: “Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace. And he meant it. Let’s GO.”
[The live televised presidential debates are scheduled for June 27 on CNN, and September 10 on ABC News.]
After considering Biden’s provisions to the debate — no live audiences and microphones that are turned off when a candidate isn’t speaking — Ms. Trump dialed back her enthusiasm and claimed that Biden “has given himself every possible advantage here.”
During the 2020 debates, Trump often interrupted Biden during his designated response time, a tactic Trump also used against his 2016 debate opponent Hillary Clinton.
Lara Trump this weekend shared a clip of a Trump/Clinton debate, below, and wrote: “One of the greatest debate moments EVER!”
One of the greatest debate moments EVER! Oh, and, remember the first time they gave Hillary all the debate questions BEFOREHAND and @realDonaldTrump STILL won?! EPIC. pic.twitter.com/dHg1xZffAT
— Lara Trump (@LaraLeaTrump) May 18, 2024
After Clinton said: “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” Trump replied, “because you’d be in jail,” and the live audience cheered.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly accused Clinton of breaking federal law for using private email to conduct official State Department affairs, though during the Trump administration, the FBI investigated Trump’s accusation against Clinton for criminality and turned up “no tangible results.”
While Lara Trump intended the 8-year-old video to be a flex for candidate Trump and his debate prowess in a raucous environment, it is also an example of why boisterous debate audiences are seen by more issue-oriented viewers as a distraction from the core purpose of the debate: the dissemination of pertinent information and the candidates’ respective articulation of their policy and vision viewpoints.
By emphasizing that Biden has secured what she characterizes as advantages, including the lack of an audience, Lara Trump is performing the normal advocacy of lowering the expectations for her candidate, her message being that Trump deprived of an audience and the opportunity to interrupt is a less impactful candidate.