There have been recent deliberations from Donald Trump regarding a scheduled debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on ABC News, with a clear predisposition towards rejecting the invitation due to what he terms as an ‘anti-Republican’ attitude of the network. During his appearance at a Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia, Trump shared his disapproving views of how the ABC Sunday show ‘This Week’ treated Republican senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. In Trump’s words, he is questioning the rationale behind contributing to such an aggressive environment, and asserts that a different network would make a more suitable choice for the debate.
Reacting to a query on his final decision over participation, Trump conveyed a sense of continuing speculation. It wasn’t just about the hostile ambiance, but also the modifications that ABC intends to bring about to the debating rules. Trump without missing a beat insinuated that such changes were encouraged by Harris’ inability to respond effectively in debates. He further critiqued Harris for not being as open to press and public as he is.
Trump emphasized his desire for a ‘just debate’ where challenging questions are welcome. He went one step further and scoffed at ABC, claiming that other networks like NBC, CBS and even CNN treated him better during his previous presidential run. According to Trump, CBS, despite being unjust, still remains the best option from his perspective, with Fox being a natural choice for any important political discourse.
When probed about his perspective on the use of muted microphones in the debate, Trump reiterated his stance on maintaining last time’s rules. His indifference towards the whole muted-unmuted concept was evident, yet he emphasized that the agreement insisted on sticking to the previous norms.
The Harris campaign, as represented by their communications director Michael Tyler on MSNBC, vocalized a preference for live mics during the debate, an approach that allows the entirety of the candidates’ remarks to be accessible to the public. Interestingly, he indicated that Trump also leans towards this setup. Tyler concluded that this topic, accordingly, has been settled.
Negotiation around the rules for the impending debate seemed to have reached a deadlock. The source of the holdup is an issue surrounding the live microphone concept. Harris’s campaign entrenched its position demanding ‘hot’ microphones throughout the debate to capture all commentary, irrespective of who owns the floor.
Brian Fallon, Harris’s campaign spokesperson, accused the Trump team of pushing for muted mics when the opponent is speaking. He implied a thinly veiled fear in the Trump team about their candidate maintaining decorum during the entire uninterrupted time period of the debate.
Fallon further criticized Trump for evading exposure to immediate reaction to his ‘consistent lies and interjections.’ He asserted that Vice President Harris is ready to fact check Trump’s statements live. The challenge for Trump, according to Fallon, should be to interact straightforwardly, without the protective shield of a living-room mute button.
In a counter-defense, Trump’s campaign spokesman Jason Miller clarified that an agreement over the rules of the debate was brokered in sync with the format adopted for the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden on CNN — involving muted mics as requested by the Biden team. Miller also called attention to the seemingly strange demand by the Harris campaign that the debate participants be allowed to sit during the contest and be allowed notes.
Firing back, Miller pointed out that if Harris fails to articulate her standpoints adequately, that is, to his perception, a fault on part of her caretakers. He depicted this as a recurring issue with the Harris campaign, extending to her lack of engaging in interviews, press conferences, and now looking for escape routes during the debate.
The debate on September 10 was initially planned much ahead in time, well before Biden bowed out of the race. Post Biden’s exit and Harris’s entry into the presidential race, Trump conveyed his hesitation to participate in the ABC debate in early August, while tossing a suggestion for a debate on Fox News.
Later, Trump proposed a series of three debates with Harris in September, the only confirmed one till now being the ABC debate. Interestingly, this is the maiden election cycle where the Commission on President Debates isn’t mediating the presidential debates since it was established in 1987.
The Republican National Committee in 2022 decided to step back from commission-hosted debates, enforcing Republican presidential candidates to promise to engage only in debates safeguarded by the Republican Party. The Biden campaign followed a similar path, disregarding the commission-sponsored debates.
Biden’s campaign co-chair Jen O’Malley Dillon criticized the debating schedule and the purported inability of the commission enforcing the established guidelines in the debates during 2020. It almost seems like these debates are more about tactics and scheming than they are about sharing plans and visions with the American people. One might wonder: isn’t there a better way to do this?