The Real Reason Trump Is Avoiding Debate Is That He Is Not Well. Not Format
Even during the short, friendly phone interview on Fox, Trump seemed a little out of breath. For a two hour debate, Trump is going to have a real tough time field answering questions from an audience.
Put another way, Trump could barely respond to the softball questions posed by Fox News. "What is your second term agenda?" Any candidate would love to have that self-serving question thrown at them, yet Trump could only offer some off-topic response about how he has done so much for black people (perhaps fixating on Harris's race).
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Now, how is Trump going to get through a two hour townhall without starting to decompensate, since he is still recovering from COVID and is on drugs?
At a rally, Trump can freely decompensate, and people will just accept it as Trump playing to the crowd when he starts saying crazy s*&t like he is a perfect physical specimen, that COVID is a gift from god, or that he is going to have Barr prosecute Biden, Hillary, etc.