There will be no opening statements and no audience. And when one speaks, the other's microphone is turned off.
The rules are clear for what has been described as the TV debate of the year, the one between the US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Both Trump and Biden have given the green light for the guidelines ahead of the first of the election campaign's two debates. It will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, during the night leading up to Friday, Swedish time.
The news channel CNN, which is arranging the event, further announces that each candidate's place on the stage will be determined by a coin toss. At the podium, only paper, pen, and a bottle of water will be allowed. And during the 90-minute broadcast, the debaters will not be allowed to have contact with their staff during the two commercial breaks.
This means that training is crucial.
One must be prepared for the unthinkable. The goal of the preparation process is to prepare President Biden for the possibility that real horrors may come out of Donald Trump's mouth, says Kate Bedingfield, former communications chief at the White House and one of those who worked with Joe Biden ahead of the debates in 2020, to The New York Times.
"Full of chemicals"
That the language can become harsh has already been demonstrated by Trump adviser Jason Miller.
"He (Trump) doesn't need to be programmed by his staff or filled with chemicals, unlike Joe Biden", he says in a statement according to the news site Politico.
Instead, Trump kills two birds with one stone, according to Miller. He prepares himself by asking questions to politicians and experts – several of whom have been mentioned in speculations about whom Trump will appoint as his vice-presidential candidate.
"President Trump does a number of tough interviews every week and delivers long campaign speeches standing at rallies, which shows endurance at an elite level", says Miller, who has worked with the former president since the 2016 election campaign.
Age – and war
The outburst gives a hint that at least one of the gentlemen will give the other a hard time about his age – a recurring theme during the election campaign. Democrat Joe Biden is 81 years old, four years older than Trump. In recent weeks, Republicans have published several film clips questioning his mental health.
Biden, on the other hand, describes Trump as a selfish man in campaign films and reminds us that he was recently convicted of accounting fraud.
The President has been flitting between the White House, D-Day celebrations in France, the G7 meeting in Italy, campaign meetings in California and Delaware, where a trial has been held against his son Hunter. But over the weekend, he withdrew to the presidential retreat Camp David with long-time adviser Ron Klein for debate preparations.
The two are likely to focus extra much on the economy, immigration, the abortion issue, and the world's wars, topics that are expected to dominate the election campaign.
The Democratic President Joe Biden and the Republican former President Donald Trump, who are expected to face off in the US presidential election on November 5, made big headlines in May. This was when they announced that they would deviate from the tradition of three debates during the election campaign, arranged by a special non-partisan commission. Instead, the duo agreed on two debates, on June 27 and September 10.
Both Biden and Trump are generally unpopular among voters. Trump has a small lead in the polls: Currently, the former president has national support of 45.8 per cent compared to 45 per cent for Biden, according to a compilation of current measurements.
Trump leads over Biden in all seven swing states, places where the balance between Republican and Democratic majorities is precarious and where the election is realistically decided.
Source: Real Clear Politics
