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.”
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.
Perhaps someone with so little self control of their utterances should not in fact get to be elected to the highest office in the land. Just a thought.
That went in the opposite direction from what I expected. I figured it’d be team orange that wanted the orange man to be able to interrupt, not that they’d fear him doing so. I’m on the side for hot mics as of now.
I guess Kamala wins either way now. Either they get hot mics and she has the strength to use his bluster and rudeness against him, or they don't, and she can calmly set out her points in complete sentences, with facts, without being interrupted. They've pre-cast his bullying interruptions as "lack of self-control" rather than "assertion of power."
When Biden dropped out, I pointed out that Harris should insist on hot mics and people game me a lot of grief. I don't wanna hear Trump either, but I want voters to hear him.
Sometimes the questions take more time than the candidates are actually given. I can’t blame them for trying to talk over each other every god damned minute.
That's part of the debate skill set, answering questions in limited time. There is almost always more to say about a subject, especially when you're a politician
I would argue at that level going over time is a part of the skill set. People watching these debates care less about what you say and more about how you say it. Dominating the conversation is better than superior policy and they know it.