IS THIS THING ON?
Donald Trump is threatening to pull out of the next presidential debate, as his campaign squabbles over the rules. His own team seems nervous about what he might say if his mic is left on.
- Disgraced former President Donald Trump warned he may ditch the September 10th debate, the only one both campaigns have currently agreed to, in a post on Truth Social Sunday evening. “I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?,” he wrote, referring to ABC, which he accused of bias. By Monday, the real substance of the dispute between the two camps emerged into view — and it’s all about hot mics. Vice President Kamala Harris wants the microphones left on for the entire debate, so the two candidates can get into it on stage. Trump’s team wants them turned off between responses, as they were when Trump debated President Biden in July on CNN.
- “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,” said Brian Fallon, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign. “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.”
- Trump campaign spokesperson Jason Miller fired back: “ABC offered the exact same debate rules as CNN, and we accepted.” But then Trump (of course) stepped on his own team’s message by insisting, in public, that he’d rather have the microphones turned on. “Doesn’t matter to me,” Trump said. “I’d rather have it, probably, on. But the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time.”
The implication here, of course, is that Trump’s own people think their best shot at defeating Harris in a debate is to keep their guy from mouthing off and saying something regrettable.
- Trump’s team is scrambling to find a way to counter Harris’ surging poll numbers. Trump’s own campaign pollster, Tony Fabrizio, warned over the weekend that Harris will likely increase her lead over Trump in the wake of the Democratic National Convention, in what he’s now calling an “extended honeymoon” for Harris. Trump is planning more swing-state appearances, although even some of his supporters are openly wondering if those appearances still work the way they used to.
- What this emerging debate debacle shows is that Trump lacks a coherent plan, for now, to turn this campaign around. After all, curbing how much voters can hear of your candidate is a defensive strategy meant to limit fallout, not a plan of attack aimed at overtaking a surging opponent. A debate remains the pivotal moment of the final two months to change the narrative. Yet Trump’s team seems anxious about how voters will react to hearing more of their candidate in prime time, rather than eager to seize the opportunity.
If Biden’s withdrawal in July taught us anything, it’s that debates really do matter. Perhaps it’s hard to blame Trump’s people for being anxious about the next one
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