ABC rejects Harris campaign's attempt to change debate rules at the last minute

By 
 September 1, 2024

There seems to be a stark contrast between Republican and Democrat presidential candidates regarding the rules of a debate.

For former President Donald Trump, he's pretty much an "anytime, anywhere" kind of candidate. Whatever the rules are, that's fine.

But Democrats, including President Biden and now Vice President Kamala Harris, are seemingly working overtime to change the debate rules at the last minute, obviously to compensate for their weaknesses.

According to the New York Post, the Harris campaign desperately attempted to alter the upcoming Sept. 10 debate rules regarding a microphone issue, only to be flat-out rejected by the debate host, ABC News.

What's going on?

The Harris campaign essentially begged ABC to unmute the microphones for the upcoming debate -- a tactic that many believe was an attempt to set a trap for Trump.

Thankfully, the network rejected the ask, and The Post laid out the simple rules of the debate:

A network email reviewed by The Post lays out similar rules as those for Trump’s June 27 CNN debate against President Biden — including no audience, no pre-written notes or props and muted mics when a candidate is not speaking.

On debate night, the two candidates will only be allowed to have a pen, paper, and a bottle of water.

The rules were set in stone after Trump's campaign asked that the rules be the same as they were for Trump's debate with Biden, which ultimately ended Biden's campaign and in some ways, his presidency.

Now, there are even rumors and speculation that Harris may try to back out of the debate after being humiliated in a CNN interview this week.

Backing out?

A top Trump ally reportedly suggested that Harris could back out of the debate.

"At this point, Team Harris is going to be taking an ‘L’ when they finally accept, as the debate rules aren’t changing, or they’ll take an even bigger ‘L’ if they back out of the debate because the Dana Bash/CNN interview goes poorly," the person reportedly told The Post.

Many were shocked that the CNN interview, in which Harris brought along her running mate, Tim Walz, actually asked her tough questions and completely caught her off guard.

The last time Trump debated, the other person lost their chance to run. It's not out of the question that it could happen again.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson