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„She’s not a smart person“, Donald Trump remarked today about Kamala Harris. If she’s trying to get out of the debate with Trump, she’s at least smarter than Joe Biden and those who went ahead with the first presidential debate.
Let’s back up for a moment. Shortly after getting anointed as the Democrat nominee, Harris began badgering Trump to stick to the agreement to debate on September 10 on ABC News on the same terms as he’d agreed with Biden. The next day, Trump accepted despite his reasonable objection earlier that the agreement he’d had was with Biden, not Harris, and that the two campaigns should negotiate a new agreement on debates. Harris eventually agreed to a second debate but refused a third on Fox News Channel.
Now, however, Harris and her campaign have second thoughts. Despite insisting that the Biden agreement bound Trump to the ABC debate on September 10, the campaign now wants the rules changed. Now they want the microphones left on, and other changes:
“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,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, tells POLITICO. “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.”
Ahem. It was the Biden team that wanted the mics cut off, a questionable strategy even at that time. Trump wanted them left on, but it played out well for him and left Biden without any victimization claims at the end for his disastrous performance.
We’ll get back to that point momentarily.
