The highly anticipated September 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is at risk of cancellation due to a dispute over microphone rules and Trump’s reservations about the hosting network.The Harris campaign is pushing for both candidates’ microphones to remain live throughout the entire debate, a change from the previously agreed-upon rules that would mute microphones when a candidate is not speaking. Brian Fallon, Harris’s communications adviser, stated, ‘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’.In response, Jason Miller, Trump’s campaign adviser, accused the Harris campaign of trying to change the rules, saying, ‘Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate’. The Trump campaign argues that the original rules were agreed upon when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee.Complicating matters further, Trump has expressed doubts about participating in the ABC News-hosted debate, citing what he perceives as the network’s bias. On social media, Trump questioned, ‘Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?’, referring to ABC as ‘ABC Fake News’.Both campaigns are now accusing each other of attempting to avoid the debate. Trump has suggested that Harris is ‘trying to get out of it because she doesn’t want to debate. She’s not a good debater. She’s not a smart person’. Meanwhile, the Harris campaign maintains that the Vice President is ‘ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time’.As the September 10 date approaches, it remains uncertain whether the debate will proceed as planned. The dispute over microphone rules and Trump’s hesitation to participate have cast a shadow over what was expected to be a pivotal moment in the 2024 presidential race.
Key points
- The September 10 presidential debate between Harris and Trump is at risk of cancellation due to disagreements over microphone rules.
- Harris’s campaign wants microphones to remain on throughout the debate, while Trump’s team insists on keeping the original muting rules.
- Trump has expressed doubts about participating in the ABC News-hosted debate, citing perceived bias.
- Both campaigns are accusing each other of attempting to avoid the debate.
Contradictions👾While the Harris campaign claims they want open microphones to allow real-time responses to Trump, the Trump campaign suggests this is an attempt by Harris to avoid the debate altogether.
👾Trump’s team insists they accepted the debate under the same terms as the CNN debate, but Harris’s team argues that these terms were agreed upon with the Biden campaign, not theirs.
