Donald Trump recognizes he interrupted Joe Biden too many times during the first 2020 presidential debate, according to Maggie Haberman.
“He has said to people multiple times that he knows that he interrupted too much in the first debate with Biden in 2020, and having just rewatched that debate recently, it’s really striking,” the New York Times senior political correspondent said on CNN Wednesday.
“I mean, we all talked about it at the time, but Biden could barely get a word in edgewise, and Biden was kind of smiling throughout as this was happening.”
Trump interrupted Biden over 100 times in the September 2020 debate, which was characterized by journalists and political analysts at the time as a “chaotic disaster,” “the political equivalent of a food fight,” and the “worst presidential debate in living memory.”
Moderator Chris Wallace, then a Fox News host, repeatedly tried and failed to regain control.
The first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign is scheduled for June 27. Trump and Biden have agreed to a set of rules, which include allowing their microphones to be muted when it is not their turn to speak.
According to Haberman, Trump has been prepping for the debate by taking briefings from various people, including several Republican senators, who focussed on issues that could come up such as abortion, health care, energy, COVID-19 and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
“Trump doesn’t like prep,” she said. “I mean, he considers it school. So the fact that they’ve gotten him to do it this way is actually pretty revealing, and also speaks to the fact that, I think he knows that this has to go well for him.”
Next week’s debate will start at 9 p.m. Eastern time and will be moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
