Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are engaged in a debate on whether or not microphones should be turned off during a speech before their debate on September 10.
Campaigns usually plot their debate tactics in advance, but after the first debate eliminated President Joe Biden from the race, both Trump and Harris will be under pressure to perform well in Philadelphia the following month.
Using his social media platform Truthout, Trump watched the network’s Sunday show that featured a “so-called Trump enemy panel” and made a suggestion that he might forego the ABC debate that night. Along with asking, “Stay tuned!!,” he also questioned his supporters, “Why would I debate with Kamala Harris on that network?”
The current controversy centers on muting microphones when a candidate is not speaking, a condition that both Biden and Trump agreed to during a June debate hosted by CNN. Both sides accuse each other of gaming the system to protect their candidate.
Biden’s campaign muted the microphones as a condition of agreeing to any debates this year, and some advisers now regret the decision, saying voters were protected from hearing Trump debate. But that move likely won’t help the Democrat’s disastrous performance.
Harris’ campaign now wants microphones on at all times, according to Harris spokesman Brian Fallon, who released a statement criticizing Trump.
“Trump’s advisers prefer to mute the microphones because they don’t believe their nominee can function as president for 90 minutes on his own,” Fallon said. Harris is “prepared to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time.” “Trump needs to stop hiding behind the mute button.”
Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the Republican candidate had “agreed to the ABC debate on the same terms as the CNN debate.” He alleged that Harris’s representatives “wanted to sit down and debate with notes and opening statements.”
Miller then criticized Harris for not conducting any interviews or press conferences since Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed her, and argued that his campaign now “wanted to give her a cheat sheet for the debates.”
