Is this thing on? Harris and Trump battle over hot mics at debate.
Is this thing on? Harris and Trump battle over hot mics at debate.
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.”
You're viewing a single thread.
I am surprised its team Harris is the one who want unmuted microphones. The whole time I thought it woukd be Trump
We won’t get to hear him say the N word if he’s muted. Just a thought.
Maybe they should mute the mics for the TV broadcast but also host a separate stream on the internet with full audio from both mics. That way Trump isn't encouraged to interrupt, but we get to see him saying crazy shit if he tries.
If Donald drops a hard-R he will gain back some Repub voters who have been losing interest. Everyone else already knows he is racist.
Many racists draw the line at a hard R. For some of them it hits to close to home.
Yeah he’s clearly dying to say it
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!
Definitely want to hear what he says under his breath, it will show everyone who he truly is (most of us already know though).
Same for Kamala obviously. Doubt she would say anything terrible. Mainly because she's, I don't know, respectable, descent, or something.
He's looking for any reason to weasel out of this because he knows he has no chance against a former prosecutor with a sound mind.
Look back to the first 2020 Biden Trump debate. Up until Biden 2024 performance, it was arguably one of the worst debate performances of all time.
Harris wants to give him enough rope to hang himself.