Exactly who’s mind is going to be changed by participating?
There’s nothing to these debates except an opportunity for some smug arsehole media head to demonstrate how superior they feel to all us unwashed anyway.
Nobody who supports Trump is going to be convinced to vote Biden by anything that could be said in a debate format. Nobody who supports Biden is going to be convinced that Orange Man is not bad, likewise.
You’ll miss an opportunity to explain how, what people saw with their own two eyes isn’t what actually happened; but other than that, no big loss.
Now the tune has changed. Now there seems to be no need for debates.
It is idle to argue that debates do not affect elections. If they do not why were they agreed to in the first place? So the question becomes has the forum been so altered as to justify running the risks of media criticism 27 days before election with people already voting by withdrawing? At a time 27 days before the election when Trump is behind in the polls, or at least conventionally believed to be so? What is the upside for Trump compared to the downside?