RFK Jr. accuses Biden and Trump of 'colluding' to exclude him from debates
RFK Jr. accuses Biden and Trump of 'colluding' to exclude him from debates
He’s not wrong, the two main parties absolutely do collude to create a duopoly.
He’s also the wrong messenger to deliver the message.
It’s not just that.
Every other election debates are held by a nonpartisan organization and a third party that meets certain requirements can also join.
Because political parties are private organizations not attached to the government.
This election both parties agreed they will only do debates that they arrange.
Meaning they’re in charge of who shows up, and they’ll never both agree to let anyone else join.
People keep acting like it doesn’t matter, but it’s a big deal.
Every other election debates are held by a nonpartisan organization and a third party that meets certain requirements can also join.
They change the rules rather arbitrarily to suit their needs anyway. During the 2000 election Nader was excluded from debates under the new rule that the green party had to have gotten 5% (nationally) of the vote in the previous presidential election to quality. Some of the votes for Nader, that helped get Bush elected, were cast to make sure the green party got that 5%. They didn’t, it ended up at 4% and change, but the rule was changed for 2004 anyway so it wouldn’t have mattered.
I think the point was that the polling requirement was how it USED to work, but this election season the parties are holding their own debates with their own rules. I don’t have a source on it myself but I think that’s the claim here.
RFK Jr wouldn’t be invited regardless though.