Update: Since President Trump has chosen to not participate in the virtual debate, The Hill has confirmed that Joe Biden will instead speak at a town hall [1] hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia. It will be moderated by anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Original post: Virtual school, virtual dates, virtual doctor's appointments — Americans have done them all. But President Trump is refusing to do a virtual presidential debate [2], and his reasoning is quite jarring. Just one day after Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence squared off [3] behind plexiglass screens, the Commission on Presidential Debates said the second presidential debate, set to take place on Oct. 15, will be held virtually because of Trump's coronavirus diagnosis [4]. During a virtual call on Fox Business on the morning of Oct. 8, Trump said he's "not going to do a virtual debate."
"I'm not gonna waste my time on a virtual debate," the president said. "That's not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate, that's ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want."
The second debate was scheduled to take place [6] at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and be moderated by Steve Scully of C-SPAN. Scully will still be moderating the debate from Miami in what is said to be a "town hall format." When asked about the president's statement, Joe Biden had a very realistic response [7]. "We don't know what the president's going to do, he changes his mind every second," Biden said.
Well, Chasten Buttigieg said it best [8]: "If we expect second graders to show up for virtual school, the least Trump could do is show up for a virtual debate."