Trump is protesting the debates despite the bi-partisan committee

It looks like Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wants no part of debating his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. He made it known that he feels things are being tipped against against.

Trump late Friday accused Hillary Clinton of intentionally stacking debates against primetime programming to “rig” the election process, despite the fact that the schedule has been set since last September.

As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016

Meanwhile, Mark Cuban, think that Trump may not be to excited about sharing the debate stage with Clinton.

Im going to go out on a limb and say that @realDonaldTrump will do everything possible not to debate @HillaryClinton. — Mark Cuban (@mcuban) July 28, 2016

The Trump comments are most likely aimed starting a conversation about how many debates are conducted and on what dates those events are held. It also might be in Clinton’s best interest work closer with the committee to like Trump get attempt to get some concessions.

I think that Trump wants one debate and then that is it. Clinton might want more but not three, so look for a great deal of conversation going on with the committee between now and September.

Trump did very well during the Republican presidential debate season set up by the RNC in cooperation with the television networks. The same process was used by the Democrats used in setting up their debate schedule and like Trump, it Clinton had a strong debate season.

Both sides had a say in the topics presented and the reporters and anchors who served as moderators in the debate season.

In the 2016 Presidential Debates will be handled as they have been since 1988 by the Commission on Presidential Debates. They are a non-partisan committee made up of an equal number of Republican and Democrats who set the rules, the topics and who will serve as moderators.

For instance 2012 debate moderators were CNN’s Candy Crowley, PBS anchor Jim Lehrer, CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, and ABC reporter Martha Raddatz hosted the vice presidential debate. As of today we don’t know who will moderate this year’s debates, but if history is any guide they will be true non nonsense people who will force both sides on point.

The preliminary debate schedule for the general election has been set since September, 2015, by the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The schedule includes a Sunday night debate on Oct. 9 that will air concurrently with an NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers.

At this time there will be two debates scheduled against NFL football broadcasts which could impact the ratings of the debates. Again, these debates were put in place over a year ago, so there is plenty of time for changes.

The first debate is scheduled to be held Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., according to the Commission on Presidential Debates, which says its primary mission is to ensure that general election debates are held every four years.

The commission — co-chaired by a Democrat and a Republican – is an independent organization, “not controlled by any political party or outside organization,” it notes on its website.

For the record the non- partisan commission has sponsored general election presidential debates in every election since 1988.

Many will recall that Trump skipped a Republican primary debate because he was angry at a line of questioning by Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said during the Democratic National Convention that he was skeptical that Trump would participate in the debates against Democrat Hillary Clinton this fall.

“He not only doesn’t put any meat on the bones, I think if you asked him for specifics he couldn’t tell you, and that’s why I think he may duck the debates,” Rendell, a Democrat, said at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg Communications.

According to the commission here is the 2016 schedule

First presidential debate (September 26, 2016, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY)

The debate will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week before the debate.

The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have an opportunity to respond to each other. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.

Vice presidential debate (October 4, 2016, Longwood University, Farmville, VA)

The debate will be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.

Second presidential debate (October 9, 2016, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO)

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which half of the questions will be posed directly by citizen participants and the other half will be posed by the moderator based on topics of broad public interest as reflected in social media and other sources. The candidates will have two minutes to respond and there will be an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate further discussion. The town meeting participants will be uncommitted voters selected by the Gallup Organization.

The third and final presidential debate (October 19, 2016, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV)

The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate.

All debates will be moderated by a single individual and will run from 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time without commercial breaks. As always, the moderators alone will select the questions to be asked, which are not known to the CPD or to the candidates.

The moderators will have the ability both to extend the segments and to ensure that the candidates have equal speaking time. While the focus will properly be on the candidates, the moderator will regulate the conversation so that thoughtful and substantive exchanges occur.