Second Presidential Debate Cancelled Due to Trump’s Covid 19 Positive Test?

The only legitimate reason to cancel the second presidential debate due to Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis is if the 25th Amendment is invoked, which provides for situations where the president is temporarily unable to lead, such as if the president “has a surgical procedure, becomes seriously ill or injured, or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers or duties of the presidency.”

If the president, however, can continue to lead the free world and a $3.8 trillion dollar federal budget then he can partake in an hour and a half debate.

Of course, though, additional precautions will have to be taken. One way to do the second debate is via teleconferencing. Both Trump and Biden have had their fair share of on-air debates from a remote location with some FoxNews or CNN anchor. To make this type of debate as fair as possible the Commission on Presidential Debates would need to set up their rooms to make them virtually identical because it would be a major advantage to Trump if he could debate from the lawn of the White House whereas Joe Biden would do so from his basement.

In the 1980s it was discovered that “negative attack” ads against Ronald Reagan actually led to him having higher approval ratings because although the words were negative the imagery made Reagan look good. Moral of the story: images are extremely powerful on our subconscious.

There would also need to be a moderator present in the room to make sure neither candidate is cheating, i.e. getting information from assistants, technology, or intravenous drugs (seriously lol).

But I think America can do better than a zoom-like debate. Let’s apply the same innovative American spirit we bring to “dropping democracy” or spacetravel to the next presidential debate.

We can put the candidates in their own respective bubbles.

A fiction writer couldn’t write such symbolism to better describe 2020 where both sides live more and more in their own bubbles (Although if we are being honest, Democrats generally live more in a bubble where 90%+ of entertainment, social media, education is controlled by Democrats. Facts. Republicans just need to change the channel away from FoxNews, go to the cinema, or scroll through YouTube to leave their bubble whereas it’s much harder for my Democratic friends to hear the conservative side, especially when many of them are being told that they shouldn’t listen to the other side without a liberal fact-checker present).

I digress though. Of course, the bubble shouldn’t be as silly as the above image, but they could be surrounded by a glass chamber. Not to be confused with a WWE Elimination Chamber, but perhaps similar in spirit, nor a gas chamber although I’m sure some of you would prefer it to be so.

Ultimately, there’s no reason to cancel a presidential debate simply on the basis of one of the candidates having a virus if that candidate is capable of governing and therefore debating. This isn’t little league. Debate is the bedrock of our democracy. Most of us won’t change our vote based on a single debate, but when done right, these debates can help improve our thinking by building more empathy and understanding for each side’s perspective by seeing where they agree (candidates often agree a lot more than how they let on because that’s how they inspire/scare their base to the polls), disagree, and what their priorities would be if elected.

Debates more than any other event in our American democracy let us peek into our leaders’ thinking by forcing them to take positions relative to the other, and sometimes over the course of doing so, consensus can form around some new government action, but for the next debate, in order to let down the curtain, we may need to build a glass wall.