The only real value those debates have is as entertainment, and if you are anything except a Leftist, you are going to have them all, from stage crews to moderators working against you.
Many years ago, when Whittaker Chambers had accused Alger Hiss of being a Soviet spy, Hiss's legal team was trying to get Chambers to make that statement in a public forum outside the hearings, so they could sue him for libel.
I guess they Hiss's team knew that even though truth is the ultimate defense against libel, Chambers could not legally keep up with them dollar for dollar, and he would be ruined and discredited.
So they laid a trap for Chambers and invite him to appear on "Meet The Press" where they would ask him point blank about Hiss, they could go after him.
He went on "Meet The Press", and in a in a 1952 interview he described his treatment on that show as "fun for the boys but death for the frogs"
I view these debates the same way, just like all the other crap like the Press Club Dinner, etc.