A) Is this is so the old folks can have a potty break?
B) How capitalist have we become that we commercialize the presidential debate openly? I wonder if these will be SuperBowl-level ads.
I'm kinda shocked that the Trump campaign would agree to this. These rules seem directly in response to his debate style.
For all Biden's many faults, having to share a stage with him in a civilized manner is almost certain to work against Trump. Especially when his campaign is consistently trying to paint Biden as mentally unwell and out of touch.
I'm glad it's happening, just shocked that it's happening under these conditions. I fully expected the Trump campaign to find a reason to back out leading up to this, and any of those rules would likely be a justification for that that his base would be fine with.
The lack of notes will probably hurt Biden mostly. Trump will go off on crazy tangents, which he does anyway and probably doesn't read notes someone wrote for him ever, it doesn't take more than 3 brain cells to spout off racist shit and get angry people angry. But Biden will say 3 words and forget where he is, that's what they are probably counting on.
Edit: WOW it's fucking crazy how right I was. Keep downvoting.
They have been making money for the last decade off of Trumps presidential shenanigans, they aren't going to stop milking that cow now. They can still get another decade out if him, even if he died today.
However, campaign staff will be prohibited from interacting with their respective candidates during these intermissions, denying them the opportunity for strategic consultations or to touch up the candidates’ appearance.
"Gentlemen, good evening. I will in a moment give you each five unrelated words. In 90 minutes I will ask you to recall those five words. I look forward to a spirited debate. Good luck."
You know how you have to prepare your house when someone is bringing their kids over (especially if you don't have kids of your own) ? That what this is. Things have got so bad that they have to bring in a bunch of new rules just so one adult can finish speaking without a other "adult" talking over them the whole time. Holy shit, this is what it has come to.