Trump campaign demands new in-person debate dates after wildly accusing committee of protecting Joe Biden

President Trump's campaign has suggested the next debate went virtual to "protect Joe Biden" — but not for the reason that makes sense.

Early Thursday, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the next presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 15, would be held virtually. But Trump's team decided to ignore the fact that the debate was moved because their candidate has a contagious and potentially deadly disease, and instead claim it was to give Biden the advantage.

"The American people should not be deprived of the chance to see the two candidates for president debate face to face two more times," the Trump campaign said Thursday, forgetting Trump was the one to opt out of the debate in the first place. It then purported the change was made because Vice President Mike Pence "had just wiped the floor" with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) during Wednesday's debate, and that it would let Biden use a "teleprompter from his basement bunker."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Instead, the Trump campaign said it would agree to moving the Oct. 15 debate to Oct. 22 if it could be in person, as Biden's team had suggested. In addition, the debate scheduled for Oct. 22 should be held Oct. 29, the campaign added.

This is far from the first debunked conspiracy Trump's supporters have pushed against Biden during the debates. At the first one, they claimed Biden was receiving answers via an earpiece before the debate had even started. They've also pushed disproven lies about Biden relying on a teleprompter during interviews.