Is the presidential debate dead?: Republican National Committe votes to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates

New York Magazine

RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel echoed former President Donald Trump’s complaints about the commission, stating that the commission is “biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates.” The nonprofit group has organized presidential and vice presidential debates since 1987. "It’s concerning that the presidential debates, which debuted in 1960 and have been a staple since their reintroduction in 1976, might die out because a party in the midst of a long anti-democratic backslide refuses to play ball," says Matt Sieb. "This should not, however, come as a surprise. For months now, the RNC has promised its noncooperation unless the commission changed the rules in its favor. Among the grievances the RNC listed in January were the “unilateral changes to previously agreed-upon debate formats and conditions, in some cases without even notifying the candidates.” This appears to be a reference to the first 2020 debate between Trump and Joe Biden, which the incumbent rendered mostly worthless by interrupting constantly. As a result of that debacle, the moderator of the second debate (which ended up not happening because Trump got COVID-19) was cleared to mute the candidates’ microphones at certain times."