Biden embracing debates because he's 'losing,' knows trial not damaging Trump, pundits say

Several media pundits suggested on Wednesday that President Biden's debate offer to Donald Trump was a badly needed campaign reset, with some likening him to a White House challenger who was "losing" rather than a strong incumbent.

"One of the big questions hanging over this rematch is, are they going to debate? I think if President Biden had his druthers, he may not. He would be a sitting president in a position of strength. Like [Ronald] Reagan only agreed to one debate, but that‘s not the case as we see the polls out there," CNN's Jeff Zeleny told anchor Jim Acosta.

Biden and Trump are scheduled to debate on June 27 and on Sept. 10, after Biden challenged him to two debates in a video posted to X. The major campaign news came on the heels of a recent survey showing Trump leading Biden by considerable margins in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, and also ahead or just behind in other battleground states that will decide the next president.

"Best reveal yet [that] Biden *does* believe the polls - and knows his only way back is to drag Trump back into living rooms (which the trial ain’t doing)," Jonathan Martin, a columnist for Politico, wrote on social media.

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Martin also pointed to the timing of the scheduled debates and continued, "Biden needs the race to be about Trump and soon."

NBC News' Chuck Todd also suggested the challenge was part of a shake-up for the campaign, because Biden was "losing" as of right now.

"You don't do this if you're ahead, obviously," Todd said. "So I think that they are smart to do this because they need to change the direction of the campaign. This campaign as it is going now is losing. You have to change the trajectory. You need something different to happen. This is different. The eagerness with which Trump accepted, I think the Biden campaign is lucky because I think the Biden campaign really needs this right now."

Todd told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell that it was a risk for Biden and added they needed to do something different because, "they're not speaking to 60% of the country."

President Biden and former President Trump scheduled two debates in June and September as the president trails Trump in key swing states. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))

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Mitchell also said Biden was acting more like a "challenger" than an incumbent president on Wednesday.

Co-host of "The View" Alyssa Farah Griffin saw the Biden challenge as a recognition that the race was tight, as well as a concession that Trump's criminal trial in New York isn't damaging him politically.

"It was smart of Biden to get ahead of this by challenging Trump, and I think it’s a recognition that they’re neck and neck in the polls and I think the Biden team is recognizing maybe the trial isn’t breaking through in the way that having Donald Trump in every American living room answering tough policy questions head-to-head with him will remind them who he is, what his second term will look like," Griffin said.

Frank Bruni, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, wrote on Tuesday that Biden's eager debate challenge was exactly what the president needed to "recharge" his campaign. 

President Biden speaks at a campaign event at Pullman Yards on March 9, 2024, in Atlanta. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

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CNN political commentator Scott Jennings also pointed to the timing of the decision, as it came after the New York Times' battleground state polling results. 

"I’ve been waiting and hoping — no, I’ve been desperate — for President Biden to do two things. One, boldly project strength. Two, recognize that he cannot coast to re-election and that he needs to shake up the state of the presidential race," Bruni wrote. "By emphasizing debates and suggesting that they start soon, Biden is taking a risk. But it’s a necessary one."

Conservative commentator and OutKick founder Clay Travis said Wednesday that the challenge from Biden appeared "desperate."

Biden's campaign sent the Trump campaign a list of stipulations for the proposed debates, including that there would be no live audience. 

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The president's campaign criticized the "spectacle" of past presidential debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

In addition to no audience, Biden's team said there should be mic cut-offs when each candidate's allotted time was up. They also asked that there be no third-party candidate participation, and the list of demands limited the number of news outlets that could host the debates.

The first debate is set to be hosted by CNN, while the second will be done by ABC News.