Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are scheduled to appear together on a debate stage in just 11 days. Whether that will actually happen isn’t nearly as clear as it should be.
It appeared that there was a breakthrough of sorts earlier this week. On Tuesday afternoon, the former president, who’s struggled for weeks to make up his mind about participating in the Sept. 10 event, announced in a written statement that the two major-party campaigns had “reached an agreement,” and the debate would be aired on Sept. 10, as planned.
In the same online missive, the Republican claimed that “the Rules will be the same as the last CNN Debate,” suggesting the candidates’ microphones will be muted except when they’re answering questions, just as his team had hoped.
Soon after, Team Harris explained that negotiations about the microphone issue were still ongoing, Trump’s statement to the contrary notwithstanding.
That was Tuesday. Two days later, an Associated Press report suggested the underlying questions had been answered.
Next month’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump won’t have an audience, live microphones when candidates aren’t speaking, or written notes, according to rules that ABC News, the host network, shared this week with both campaigns. A copy of the rules was provided to the Associated Press on Thursday by a senior Trump campaign official on condition of anonymity ahead of the network’s announcement.
Around the same time as the AP report reached the public, the Trump campaign hosted a press call, assured reporters that the mic issue had been “worked out,” and as the Republican operation wanted, “the microphones will be off.”
So, that’s that? No.
As NBC News reported, Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon added soon after in a statement issued via social media, “Our latest understanding is that even though Trump said Monday he would be fine with an unmuted mic, his handlers don’t trust him to spar live with VP Harris and are asking ABC to ignore Trump’s comments and keep the mics muted or else they will back out of the debate for a third time.”
The spokesperson for the Democratic nominee continued, “We have been asked to accede to Trump’s handlers’ wishes on this point for the sake of preserving the debate. We find the Trump team’s stance to be weak, and remain in discussions with ABC on the final rules.” All of which suggests the negotiations have not been finalized, despite the claims from the GOP campaign. As for why, exactly, this seemingly obscure point has become so contentious, there’s no great mystery here. An NBC News report explained, “Inside the Harris campaign, the thinking is that there shouldn’t be guardrails, and that viewers should see a full, unbridled Trump. Officials there argue that Trump’s handlers don’t trust their own candidate and charge that for all the talk of Biden showing cognitive decline, it’s Trump who is struggling to stay on track with his arguments. Showing him unleashed only benefits Harris.” Indeed, Team Harris hasn’t been subtle on this point. Brian Fallon told Politico on the record this week, “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.” It’s difficult to say with confidence when, whether, or how this will be resolved, but time is obviously running out. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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