Donald Trump accidentally sided with Kamala Harris by slapping down his own aides Monday over whether his microphone will be muted at the two candidates’ upcoming debate.
The former president said he would be happy to have an open microphone throughout the debate—something Harris’ team had demanded ahead of the Sept. 10 clash which will be televised from Philadelphia on ABC.
That would let an unfiltered Trump reaction off-camera be heard by tens of millions of people watching at home, something which the Harris camp believe would boost their side, but which Trump clearly thinks would benefit him.
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An unfiltered Trump would also be in keeping with the “Trump on steroids” outlined by a campaign advisor to CNN—an attempt to show him as energetic and forceful which will be matched by a ramped-up campaign schedule, beginning this week.
But the debate, and a possible October re-match, will be the defining moment of the campaign.
Prior to President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race, he and Trump had both had their microphones muted while the other spoke during their contentious CNN debate in June. That was a break from history, which had traditionally kept microphones hot on both sides of presidential debates.
“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, a Harris campaign spokesperson, said in a statement shared with The Hill.
“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,” he claimed. For the Trump’s campaign’s part, his aide Jason Miller told Politico on Sunday night that having agreed to CNN’s rules previously, they wanted to stick. Miller added, “We said no changes to the agreed upon rules.”
But on Monday, Trump told reporters he didn’t mind having his mic hot at all times, which seemingly went against his campaign’s position on the matter.
“We agreed to the same rules. I don't know, doesn't matter to me. I’d rather have it probably on. The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted.”
Mics aside, Trump even showing up on September 10 remains a question. In a Sunday rant on Truth Social, the former president took aim at ABC, which he called “ABC FAKE NEWS.”
However he did begin a more energetic campaign schedule Monday, first visiting Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to lay a wreath to the 13 service personnel who died three years ago at the Abbey Gate to Kabul Airport in a suicide bombing as U.S. forces left the country in a chaotic evacuation. He then headed for Michigan where he was addressing the National Guard Association, in an attempt to highlight what he says were national security failures by the Biden administration.
Harris meanwhile was not on the road Monday but will head to Georgia later in the week for a bus trip through the state which voted for Biden in 2020 by a wafer-thin margin but where she is polling behind Trump.
