Donald Trump and Joe Bill will go head-to-head Thursday night for their first general election debate of the 2024 presidential race in one of the most consequential showdowns in decades.
In the hotly anticipated rematch at 9pm on CNN, Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, will be in the same room together for the first time since their debates in the 2020.
The debate is vital for each candidate to prove they are mentally and physically fit for office. Pre-debate attacks from both camps have been centered on age and allegations of cognitive decline.
They have 90 minutes in front of an audience of tens of millions and on the biggest stage of the general election campaign so far to show why they are the candidate to pick in November.
Trump’s allies have said Biden will be pumped full of performance-enhancing drugs so he can make it through. Joe’s campaign have warned Donald won’t be able to control himself.
One quote, mistake or gaffe could stand between them and getting into the White House for the second time. A strict set of rules have been agreed by each team, including one that could haunt Biden.
It’s highly unusual to hold a formal presidential debate before the parties’ respective nominating conventions, which will take place in July for Republicans and August for Democrats.
DailyMail.com breaks down everything you need to know ahead of the debate and what to watch for as Biden and Trump take the stage.
Donald Trump and Joe Bill will go head-to-head Thursday night for their first general election debate of the 2024 presidential race in one of the most consequential showdowns in decades
DEBATE DETAILS: WHERE TO WATCH AND WHAT TIME IT STARTS
Usually the Commission on Presidential Debates organizes and sanctions the presidential general election debates, but this year the two candidates agreed to ditch the organization.
CNN is hosting the debate at their studio in Atlanta, Georgia with moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
The 90-minute debate will air on CNN on Thursday, June 27 starting at 9:00 p.m. EST.
It will also stream on all CNN’s platforms as well as on The New York Times’ website. CNN is also sharing its stream with some networks so viewers might be able to view it on networks like Fox News and ABC News – among others.
Trump and Biden are the only two who will appear on stage opposite the moderators.
This comes despite independent presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. insisting he is a serious candidate and demanding he be included in the debate.
CNN is not allowing any audience in the room during the debate, meaning this will be a much more toned-down version of those seen in years prior.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are facing off Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia for their first head-to-head debate since the 2020 election cycle
RULES AND PROCEDURES OF THE FIRST DEBATE
The two candidates both agreed to the rules CNN sent to their campaigns in May.
Part of that agreement was allowing microphones to be muted when the other candidate is speaking, a departure from previous debates.
It is an attempt to avoid crosstalk and interruptions.
The Biden campaign requested to have the mics shut off so there could be an ‘orderly proceeding’.
But in 2020, one of the key moments of their first televised debate was when Biden said ‘will you shut up, man’.
Trump was seen as constantly interrupting and Biden was considered to have won the debate.
With Trump potentially unable to engage in crosstalk, he may come off better with the audience. He will also have to control himself more.
It gives the presumptive Republican nominee time to gather his thoughts, and also leaves Biden susceptible to the chance of a gaffe.
He will be able to keep talking without the opportunity of hitting back at Trump for cutting in.
Additionally, there will be no studio audience, another change from previous events. The aim is to avoid partisan noise in the background of what organizers hope will be a serious debate on policy and opposing politics.
No props or pre-written notes will be allowed onto the stage, but candidates will be provided a pad of paper, pen and water bottle.
A coin toss was won by Biden’s campaign after they picked tails,
It meant the president’s team got to decide whether they wanted to choose the podium position, or who got the final word.
The campaign decided to select the stage arrangement and put Biden on the right podium, meaning the Democrat will appear on the right side of viewers’ television screens.
But that also means that rival Trump will get the final word of the night and deliver his closing statement last.
The stage is set: Biden’s campaign won the coin toss and decided on the right-side podium, meaning he will appear on the right side of viewers’ screens on Thursday evening
CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will be seated at the moderator table opposite the candidates’ podiums
QUALIFICATIONS TO REACH THE DEBATE STAGE
Participants needed to receive a minimum of 15 percent backing in four national polls approved by CNN.
They also needed to qualify for the presidential ballot in enough states to reach the minimum 270 Electoral College votes required to win the presidency in November.
RFK Jr. did not meet the qualifications CNN detailed to reach the debate stage.
Neither did other third party candidates like Jill Stein, who is running for the Green Party, and Cornel West, another independent candidate.
DEBATE PREP
Biden has kept a low profile in the week leading up to the debate.
He spent seven days holed-up at the presidential retreat at Camp David engaged in debate preparations.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), the former White House physician who often questions Biden’s mental acuity, speculated that the Camp David trip is a way for Democrats to test which drugs might work to make the president come off better during the late night 90-minute event.
‘I feel like this is probably what’s going on over this week at Camp David,’ Jackson said. ‘Part of that is probably experimenting with just getting the doses just right, because they have to treat his cognition.’
In a letter to the Biden and his doctor, Jackson demanded a drug test be taken before and after the debate to make sure there are no substances in his system that would keep him more alert during the debate.
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign claims he did not participate in any formal preparation.
He did, however, hold policy sessions with advisers.
Trump has also tried out some of his zingers at recent campaign rallies – including a rant about water pressure.
CSPAN employees set up equipment for the debate in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, June 26
WHO IS WATCHING?
Six in 10 adults say they are either ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ likely to watch or follow coverage of the debate, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
This could include listening to commentary or watching clips on social media, as well as watching live on CNN, its affiliated channels or other streaming avenues.
This means tens of millions of Americans will probably see or hear at least portions of Thursday’s debate.
A 37-year-old Hispanic ride-share driver and waitress in Atlanta told DailyMail.com she’s ‘excited to watch it this year.’
She added: ‘It’ll be entertaining.’
Nearly half of Americans – 47 percent – believe the debate is important for the success of Biden in 2024 and four in 10 says it’s also highly important for Trump’s campaign.
Only three in 10 Americans told AP that the debate is ‘very’ important to both campaigns.
But Americans are still not happy that they are seeing a rematch between Biden and Trump in November and wish there were other realistic choices.
Fifty-six percent say they are ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ dissatisfied with Biden being the Democratic Party’s presumed nominee for president. And 55 percent say the same about Trump.
Democrats ran a billboard ad in five busy highways in Atlanta sarcastically welcoming Trump to the Georgia city ‘for the first time since becoming a convicted felon’
DEBATE OUTCOME PREDICTIONS
RFK Jr., despite not being allowed on stage Thursday, thinks that Trump will come out the winner of the debate and pointed to the former president dominating 16 other candidates during the 2016 Republican presidential primary race.
‘I would predict that Trump will win because I really — I think Donald Trump is… he could win a prize for the greatest debater in modern American history, probably since Lincoln-Douglas,’ Kennedy told Piers Morgan in a reference to President Abraham Lincoln and Sen. Stephen Douglas (D-Ill.) in the 19th Century.
‘I don’t think it’s possible for President Biden to beat him in that debate,’ Kennedy added.
Hillary Clinton also wanted to weigh-in on the upcoming debate.
‘I am the only person to have debated both men (Mr. Trump in 2016 and, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary race, Mr. Biden),’ she wrote in the New York Times.
Her advice for Biden: ‘It is a waste of time to try to refute Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal debate.
‘It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are,’ Clinton added. ‘He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather. This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated.’
She said Biden is at a disadvantage against Trump because he doesn’t have as much time to dedicate to preparations while also performing the duties of president.
CNN is hosting the debate at their Atlanta headquarters with the absence of a live audience
Pollster Frank Luntz said both candidates might end Thursday night regretting their decision to debate.
‘This week brings us potentially one of the most consequential debates since Mr. Kennedy and Richard Nixon’s,’ Luntz wrote in the New York Times, referring to the contest in 1960.
He continued: ‘The expectations are already high for Mr. Trump, who dared Mr. Biden to debate at any time or place of his choosing.
‘It is quite possible that Mr. Trump will regret issuing such a public challenge, and Mr. Biden may regret accepting the offer.’
Radio host Charlamagne tha God said that the rule muting microphones of the candidates will likely end up working more in Trump’s favor than Biden’s.
‘Do you not want Trump to be interrupted?’ he asked during his The Brilliant Idiots podcast on Friday.
‘You’re thinking about it one way, you’re just going to let Trump go, and you can’t jump in, and you 80-plus years old and trying to keep up with every single lie he’s going to lay out? Are you serious? Biden’s not going to be able to keep up!’ he predicted.
Meanwhile, New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman told CNN that Trump learned his lesson from 2020 and believes ‘he will likely interrupt less’ anyway.
‘And I think he will be very mean toward Biden,’ she added. ‘I would be very surprised if he’s anything other than that.’
THROWBACK TO THE WILDEST MOMENTS FROM THE 2020 TRUMP V. BIDEN DEBATES
Last time Trump and Biden met on stage for a debate the world was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their first debate was very feisty with the two interrupting each other throughout.
The second of that cycle was canceled because Trump refused to participate in a remote debate after he was diagnosed with coronavirus.
And the final debate was more calm than the first.
At the first debate in the 2020 cycle, hosted by Fox News, Trump was asked to condemn white supremacists. When Biden mentioned the Proud Boys as an example of a hate group, Trump gave his message to them.
‘Proud boys: stand back and stand by,’ Trump said. ‘But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.’
The response drew backlash with critics claiming he was telling them to remain on notice rather than condemning them. But Trump later claimed he wasn’t aware who the Proud Boys were when he made the comment.
The debate Thursday is the first time Trump and Biden will be in the same room since they debated in 2020. Pictured: Trump and Biden share a stage at the presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee on October 22, 2020 – just weeks before the consequential election
Biden got fed up with Trump’s antics at the first debate on September 29, 2020 and finally told him to zip it.
‘Will you shut up, man?’ Biden said during a lengthy discussion on healthcare.
Shaking his head he added: ‘This is so un-presidential.’
Trump accused Biden of being a socialist, to which he shot back with: ‘I am the Democratic Party right now.’
Another race-related comment from Trump came at the second debate in 2020 when the Black Lives Matter movement came up.
As the two squabbled about their respective records on issues important to black and Hispanic voters, Trump made the claim he was the ‘least racist person in the room’ while slamming Biden for voting in favor of the 1994 crime bill.
The former president was touting his criminal justice reform.
Biden responded by apologizing for his role in passing the bill associated with mass incarceration.
Some are predicting that the debate Thursday evening will be more reminiscent of the first, more tense of the two 2020 debates with the current political climate and the rising tensions between the presumed nominees.