Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Sunday defended his campaign’s demand for shorter debates, saying American voters simply can’t handle watching politicians on television for more than two hours — even though Mr. Trump believes he could manage being on a debate stage for nearly a full day.
Mr. Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who comes in at No. 2 in GOP primary polls behind Mr. Trump, both threatened to boycott an upcoming CNBC debate unless the length was kept to two hours. The network ultimately agreed to that demand, along with several others.
Mr. Trump defended his position on debates and said he would be willing to debate for hours on end, assuming anyone could watch for that long.
“I could there for 12 hours. I could stand there for 20 hours, but the people can’t take it,” the former reality TV star said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I couldn’t watch Hillary Clinton for an hour and a half,” he continued. “It used to be one hour when it started. It also used to get no ratings, and both CNN and Fox broke the all-time [ratings] record on cable television. You have any idea why?”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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