With just 15 days left until the scheduled Sept. 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, negotiations between their two campaigns have hit an impasse over whether the candidates’ microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak, according to four people familiar with the issue.
In June, President Joe Biden’s campaign came to an agreement with Trump’s: There would be two debates — CNN’s on June 27 and ABC’s on Sept. 10 — conducted by mutually negotiated rules. One of the Biden team’s demands — which the Trump team agreed to — was that microphones “will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak,” as CNN announced on June 15.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, tells POLITICO. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.”
I could have sworn Ds wanted muted mics because trump was just talking over everyone and trampling the debate structure?
Yeah but now they want to make him look bad. His team don’t think he can control himself when he’s not supposed to be talking, so they want him muted.
It’s ridiculous. Just stick with what was already agreed on.
They want to let him make himself look bad.
It looks like they’re still doing the September debate with muted mics that was already agreed upon but they’re negotiating for a possible October debate without muted mics.
I saw that statement too, and I agree. Yes it’s embarrassing for Trump’s team to admit that they need to mute him, but you can never underestimate how the guy can derail any discussion if you just allow him to talk over you, no matter how good a debater the person on the other side is.
Make him look bad? Everyone knows he’s bad, and and half the country loves that. I don’t see how this is going to help Kamala. Unless she can hold her own and push back when he talks over her (which will be incessant), this move seems largely in his favor. I do hope I’m proven wrong, though!