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Last year around this time, presidential candidate Joe Biden was in the middle of a “Summer of Flubs” where almost literally everything that came out of his mouth was either a gaffe or sounded like an incoherent mess. It got so bad that at one point advisers to his campaign were privately suggesting that he ease off the campaign trail a bit so as to not embarrass himself further.

Fast forward a year, and now Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. He’s still making gaffes on an almost daily basis, and is still prone to bizarre and incoherent rants. But the last few months have seen his handlers be able to somewhat contain his embarrassing moments since his campaign is mostly being conducted from the confines of his basement.

But even at that, the elephant in the room for Biden’s Democratic supporters is the fact that there are debates that will take place later this year between him and President Trump that will be broadcast all over the country for everyone to see. And the idea that a gaffe-prone Biden will get the the type of national exposure that he hasn’t had in a very long time has become very concerning to some liberal columnists, so much so that they’ve taken to the pages of the newspapers they write for to suggest that Biden either limit attendees at the debates or boycott them altogether:

Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty suggests “rethinking” the debates, urging organizers to limit their audiences “or even do away with them entirely.” Criticizing President Trump and the Republican party for their decision to attempt an in-person convention this summer, she also mocked Trump’s request to add a fourth debate, calling it “not a serious proposal.”

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times has also called for Biden to skip the debates unless Trump releases his tax returns and agrees to a fact-checking team at the debates. “I worry about Joe Biden debating Donald Trump,” Friedman says, quickly clarifying that he fears Trump would have “unfair advantages” if he doesn’t meet these demands. Friedman acknowledges that the debates will be Biden’s “reintroduction to most Americans, who have neither seen nor heard from him for months if not years.” And apparently, Friedman finds that thought concerning.

It’s pretty easy to read between the lines here. A growing number of prominent liberals don’t want Joe Biden to debate Trump because they’re afraid all of America will see what we’ve previously only seen snippets of in the MSM and on social media since the pandemic started. Not only that, but his campaign staffers are having their hands full trying to present him as both the “woke” candidate America supposedly needs and the “electable” candidate Democratic primary voters said they wanted.

Biden trying to prove he’s both types of candidate on national TV will prove to be problematic, as we saw during the Democratic primary debates.

On his program last night, Tucker Carlson pointed out that the left’s attempts to keep Biden sequestered in his basement until the election was to hide him so no one would really know what his agenda was until after election day:

It turns out Tom Friedman is not really a genius. So, it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. This is the most cynical election strategy ever devised or ever perpetrated on American voters.

Hide the candidate until Election Day, the country can find out what’s in the administration after it’s in power, but until then, no appearing in public, and my God, don’t ever tell the truth.

So will the Biden campaign take Tom Friedman’s advice? Well, of course, they will take it, because they have no choice.

Biden is up in the polls as of right now, so they can’t let him talk. That could wreck everything.

Yep. Byron York sees the writing on the wall, too:

Friedman column an early public statement of fear Biden will not do well in debate, suggestion of excuse for Biden to cancel while still blaming Trump. We'll see who picks up on it. https://t.co/n5rpVirBeD

— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 8, 2020

For what it’s worth, the Biden campaign has said he is committed to doing debates in the fall. If they follow through, the American people will finally get the opportunity to get a much closer look at Gaffetastic Joe in order to decide for themselves what to think.

Stay tuned.