In 1976 Marshall McLuhan was asked about this new phenomenon of the televised debate.
McLuhan came away disillusioned, calling the Carter/Ford spectacle “the most stupid arrangement of any debate in the history of debating”
But here's the thing: chalking up technical difficulties, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but seems to me McLuhan's advice reads like the Trump playbook…
Marshall McLuhan on the Stupidest Debate in the History of Debating (1976)
In September 1976, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford squared off in a presidential debate, and the following day, the legendary communication theorist Marshall McLuhan appeared on the TODAY show, then hosted by Tom Brokaw, to offer some almost real-time analysis of the debate.