The microphone cut-offs are intended to prevent interruptions during Thursday’s final presidential debate.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced that President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will each have two minutes of uninterrupted speaking time at the beginning of each of the six segments during the final presidential debate in Nashville on Thursday, October 22.
To enforce this rule agreed upon by both campaigns, each candidate’s microphone will be muted during their rival’s opening statement for each of the six segments of the debate. Microphones will be turned on again for open discussion after the designated two minutes of uninterrupted speech. This new rule is intended to prevent candidates from interrupting during the debate when they do not have the floor.
NEW: Kristen Welker, moderator of the Oct. 22 presidential debate at @BelmontUniv, has selected topics: Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, Leadership #Debates2020 https://t.co/kFWvRzIljv
— CPD (@debates) October 16, 2020
Each segment of the debate will take approximately 15 minutes and the selected topics will include Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, and Leadership. The debate will be moderated by Kristen Welker of NBC News, who will be tasked with establishing a balance of speaking time during the open discussion portion of the debate without control of the microphones.
The debate is set to begin at 9:00 pm EDT (6:00 pm PDT) at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
[Featured image: Tabrez Syed via Unsplash]