Biden Should Call Trump’s Bluff — Demand ‘Immediate’ Debate With Tough CNN Moderators

President Joe Biden should call former President Donald Trump‘s bluff and demand an immediate debate — moderated by a panel of tough and respected CNN anchors like Jake Tapper, Kaitlan Collins, and Jim Acosta.

On Monday’s edition of The Dan Bongino Show, Trump told the host he would like to debate the president “immediately.”

“I’d like to call for, immediately, debates,” Trump said. “I’d like to debate him now because we should debate. We should debate for the good of the country.”

Trump also reiterated his offer to grant a post-Super Bowl interview in Biden’s stead, and insulted the president’s speaking ability.

President Biden reacted to Trump’s remarks with a laugh and a joke:

Q Mr. President, Donald Trump said he’s ready to debate you right now. Do you accept?

THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.)

Q He just said that on radio. (Inaudible) — wants to debate you immediately, he says.

THE PRESIDENT: Immediately?

Q Yes.

Q Will you debate him?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I — if I were him, I’d want to debate me too. He’s got nothing else to do. (Laughter.)

Trump’s offer of a CBS Super Bowl interview is not a serious one, but President Biden should take advantage of it and follow suit with a difficult-to-refuse challenge to debate Trump on CNN.

The political benefits of such a demand are self evident. It would be a smack in the mouth to a bully who never stops running his gob, and a way to seize the news cycle while throwing Trump off of his game. He won’t be expecting it, and the president could deliver the demand with all of the knife twisting that sources close to Trump say already have rattled. Tell that loser to come and debate me on CNN and I’ll beat him like a drum the same way I did last time.

It would also help to blunt criticism of his decision not to do the Super Bowl interview, and fight the perception that he is avoiding facing tough questions.

There is, of course, every chance that Trump would refuse, or would balk at the terms — which is one great advantage of Biden, being the one to make the counter-demand. He can set the terms and put Trump back on his heels.

Trump refuses, Biden should go ahead and set up a town hall with CNN anyway, with Acosta and Collins as the moderators.

A lot of the president’s supporters have chafed at the decision to keep his interviews and formal press conferences to a minimum. It is a legitimate criticism, but there is also a certain wisdom in recognizing the seismic shifts in the political media landscape since the quaint days of the Obama administration and beyond. The early years of an administration aren’t a time when you need very much earned media.

But the time is coming when the president will need to swallow up some media attention from Trump, and a CNN Town Hall would be a natural way to do it. Collins can be counted on as a tough and respected questioner, and Acosta has years of experience as a White House correspondent and a superlative grasp of the stakes of a Trump-era election.

President Biden has proven in the past that he can perform under such circumstances, and I think the more the American people are exposed to the occasional artifacts of his stutter, and his characteristic style, the less of an impact they will have. But two hours of grilling from tough news anchors far outweigh any possible risk.

That goes double for the unlikely event that Trump agreed to such a debate. Biden cleaned Trump‘s clock in the 2020 debates, as evidenced by his landslide victory in the election.

And advantages aside, the American people deserve to judge for themselves how fit either of these men are for the presidency. I believe Biden would crush Trump, and with the right preparation could send Trump off the deep end live on national television. We know Biden has him rattled, we know the 91 felony counts against him have him rattled, we know Collins and Acosta and Tapper each have rattled him badly in the past.

Republicans would have little choice but to support such a contest, especially with their own primary teetering on the precipice. A Trump meltdown could be their last chance to ditch him in favor of a different candidate.

People have been underestimating Joe Biden his entire career — including me, and including a lot of the folks I covered in 8 years at the Obama White House. A lot of us learned something about Biden in 2020, and if Trump makes the mistake of taking the stage with the president, he will find out too.

Watch above via pool.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.