Trump, Harris Campaigns Agree to Debate Rules
ABC News has announced its official rules ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Vice Pres. Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former Pres. Donald Trump's first debate scheduled for 9 pm ET on Sept. 10....
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Facts
- ABC News has announced its official rules ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Vice Pres. Kamala Harris and Republican nominee former Pres. Donald Trump's first debate scheduled for 9 pm ET on Sept. 10.[1]
- Harris' campaign has agreed to mute microphones during the opposing candidate's turn to speak during the 90-minute debate in Philadelphia after attempting to change the rules that had previously been agreed upon under Pres. Joe Biden's campaign.[2][3]
- Despite reports that ABC assured the Harris campaign it may turn mics on if there's significant interaction between the participants that viewers wouldn't otherwise hear, an ABC spokesperson said 'no other agreements' were made beyond the agreed-upon rules.[4][5]
- The Harris campaign accepted the rules in a letter to ABC despite reportedly claiming the vice president would be 'fundamentally disadvantaged by this format.' It added, however, that it did not want to 'jeopardize' the debate as Trump was 'a risk to skip the debate altogether.'[6][7]
- Trump questioned ABC's 'fairness' on Wednesday, saying he only agreed to do the debate because the Harris campaign 'wouldn't do any other network.' Trump also claimed Harris' campaign would get the questions in advance due to the head of ABC being her alleged 'best friend.'[8]
- The debate will have no audience, notes, or pre-shared questions, according to ABC. Trump has chosen to make the final closing statement during the debate via a virtual coin toss, with Harris choosing her podium on the viewers' right-hand side.[9]
Sources: [1]ABC News, [2]NBC, [3]New York Post, [4]CNN, [5]FOX News, [6]X, [7]MSN, [8]Forbes and [9]Associated Press.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. Harris obviously doesn't want to debate Trump, so her campaign tried to change the rules in order to get the former president to back out. Well, he called their bluff, even though he shouldn't have to debate her since his original agreement was with Biden. Hopefully, ABC's favoritism toward Harris won't impact it fairly conducting this important event.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by New York Times. By agreeing to the rules, the Harris campaign has denied Trump the excuse he wanted for backing out. So instead of pulling out, Trump is predictably claiming the network will be unfair to him — establishing his excuses for losing before he even gets on the stage with Harris, whom he's constantly denigrated since she became her party's nominee.
