What’s Behind Biden’s Plan for a June Debate

The president is looking for ways to get voters to “tune into the choice” facing them in November.

2020 Trump Biden Debate
Donald Trump skipped every debate in this year’s GOP primary and the last one in the 2020 general election. Morry Gash/AP

The presidential race was shot full of adrenaline Wednesday morning after President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement that he was ready to debate former President Donald Trump in two network television-produced bouts.

But even those in Biden’s orbit are questioning whether this is real.

“I don’t think it’s actually going to happen,” Cornell Belcher, the Democratic pollster and strategist, told NOTUS Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t. I really don’t.”