Coin Toss Determines Speaking Order for First Presidential Debate

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden. Credit | Getty images

United States – The choice of who will speak last in the first presidential debate next week between President Donald Trump and Vice President Biden will be determined by a coin toss, as CNN stated on Thursday.

Coin Toss Outcome

The Biden campaign lost the flip and decided to take tails—the opportunity to choose the president’s standing position instead of getting a speaking time. For a viewer watching the debate, Biden will be on the right side of the stage, Trump on the left, as reported by The Hills.

Trump’s campaign settled on choosing to go last, which means that Biden will be the one to deliver the final speech.

Debate Details

CNN will announce the next Thursday night debate in Atlanta with Biden and Trump as the only nominees on the stage. The decision on the choice of the moderators will be made for the anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.

This is one of the two debates that the candidates agreed on, and it will include newly established rules.

New Debate Rules

Specifically, the candidate’s microphones will be turned off during the debate, and only the turn of the specific candidate will allow the candidate to speak. I should also note that, as per the rules, the moderators will be able to “use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion. ”

Also, there will be no studio audience as there used to be in previous debates.

The 2020 election debates saw interruptions and arguing, and the moderators struggled to control either Biden or Trump. Trump told the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman more than once that he did it “too much” by interrupting Biden during the first debate in 2020, as reported by The Hills.

Exclusions

Bob Kennedy did not make the debate stage as an independent, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein has sued the FEC to complain about her exclusion.

The second debate will be on ABC on September 10th.