The Biden and Trump campaigns agreed to two presidential debates last week. For starters, presidential debates inflate the egos of journalists, giving them ample opportunity to talk grandly about the fourth estate’s important role in democracy. We supposedly need to have presidential debates because we’ve always had presidential debates. The first presidential debates, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, were in 1960 (when Biden and Trump were, respectively, 17 and 14 years old). But televised presidential debates magnify that qualification beyond all reason.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 21, 2024 14:48 UTC