On Monday, the 2024 presidential race saw a new level of tension as the Trump and Harris campaigns clashed over the rules for their upcoming debate. The dispute centers on the use of microphones, with both sides accusing each other of trying to gain an unfair advantage.
The controversy began when former President Donald Trump hinted on Truth Social that he might skip the ABC debate because Harris wants to change the rules and keep the microphones hot. This prompted a strong reaction from Trump’s spokesman, Jason Miller, who accused Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign of trying to alter the debate format that had already been agreed upon.
“Enough with the games,” Miller told Fox News Digital. He noted that the Trump campaign had accepted the debate under the same conditions as a previous CNN debate; which Harris’ campaign demanded up until recenlty.
First Team Harris said Trump should abide by his agreement with Biden and take part in ABC debate, even though his opponent changed. Now Team Harris says Trump should not abide by his agreement with Biden and agree to new rules Harris wants for the debate. https://t.co/veLm1Fmj4T
— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 26, 2024
Miller claimed that the Harris campaign, after initially agreeing to the CNN debate rules, requested changes such as a seated format, the use of notes, and the inclusion of opening statements. According to Miller, the Trump campaign rejected these changes, stating, “If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem.” He went further, suggesting that the Harris team’s requests were part of a broader strategy to shield the Vice President from scrutiny, citing her limited interactions with the press and reluctance to engage in unscripted situations.
They spent weeks whining about Trump wanting to renegotiate the ABC debate.
He then agreed to stick to the original agreement, but now Harris wants to unilaterally change all the rules.
She’s doing this to try to bait Trump into not coming. She doesn’t want to debate. https://t.co/FRPWONvTgu
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 26, 2024
It’a pretty clear what the Kamala campaign is trying to do.
First, they believe that Trump will continually interrupt Kamala and their hope is she can play “girl boss.”
Kamala Harris wants hot mics at the debate against Trump so she can try this lame girl boss “I’m speaking” routing again.
— Cryptid Politics (pro-DeSantis) 🇺🇸🐊 (@CryptidPolitics) August 26, 2024
The question is what will ABC do?
What we do know is that Dana Walden, the Disney executive who oversees ABC News is close friends with Kamala and introduced her to her current husband Doug Emhoff.
