‘It Would Be Suicidal!’ CNN’s Chris Wallace Says Trump Can’t Turn Biden Debate Into Another ‘Car Accident’

CNN anchor Chris Wallace told fellow CNN anchor Abby Phillip it would be “suicidal” if former President Donald Trump doesn’t change his behavior from the last time he debated President Joe Biden .

Biden and Trump quite suddenly agreed to a pair of debates on Wednesday, one with CNN on June 27 and one with ABC News in September.

On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight , Wallace — who moderated the first Trump-Biden debate — said he’d be a “fool” to repeat his “car accident” of a performance:

PHILLIP: So, as we saw in that video, the interruptions from Trump, that’s just how he operates. If you’ve ever interacted with him, as you have on a debate stage, on a town hall stage, a 145 in the span of 90 minutes in that debate that you did. Do you expect that his behavior will be more or less the same or has he changed in any way in terms of how he likes to present himself in that setting?

WALLACE: Oh, it would be suicidal if he doesn’t change how he conducted himself!

I think there was a lot of feeling inside the Trump camp that that was a mistake, that he came on way too hot. And, you know, that debate ended up as unpleasant as it was.

And I was, you know, a witness. I was a bystander to the car accident. It actually was very significant. And Trump lost a lot, dropped four or five points in the polls and never recovered. I think it was a real turning point in the debate.

If I were giving Trump advice, I would let Biden talk because sometimes Biden gets himself in trouble. And then I’d counterpunch. Don’t make yourself the issue. try make Biden the issue.

I think Trump thought I’m going to be able to throw Biden off his game. I’m going to be able to get him confused. It didn’t work. Biden kept his cool. And the person who ended up looking bad was Trump. If he does the same thing again, he’s a fool. PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, Chris, correct me if I’m wrong, was the stand back and stand by comment also made in that debate, that was just another example of Trump. I mean, you, you said that maybe they actually do want to do all of these debates, but Trump has a long history of major gaffes in these kinds of settings when he sort of goes with his gut instinct and says things that can hurt him politically.

WALLACE: Oh, I agree. I mean, it’s not like if there’s no Lincoln and there’s no Douglas and these debates. You know, they both come with some strengths and they both come with some weaknesses. And you’re quite right, that was near the end of the debate, and, interestingly, a strong moment for Biden. Because I said, you know, you did a lot of talk about white supremacist, are you well prepared, Mr. President, to stand on this stage and to condemn the white supremacist movement? And he said, who, who, and it was Biden who then said the Proud Boys. And it was picking up on Biden’s comment that Trump then said, Proud Boys stand back and stand by. And I think that was a real insight into his attitude towards the white supremacists who ended up playing such a terrible role on January 6th.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight .