The microphone as a political weapon? Before the TV debate between Trump and Harris, the dispute over the conditions is escalating. A key question is whether the microphones will remain switched on throughout.
The two US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are arguing publicly about the rules for their first TV debate in September. At the heart of the dispute are the microphones – and the question of whether they will be muted when the political opponent speaks.
A spokesperson for Democrat Harris’ campaign said they preferred that both candidates’ microphones remain on throughout the broadcast. “We believe Trump’s advisers prefer the silent microphone because they do not believe their candidate can behave in a presidential manner for 90 minutes,” said a statement made available to US media.
Trump criticizes Harris and broadcaster ABC
The Republican Trump had already railed against the broadcaster ABC over the weekend, which will host the debate on September 10 (local time/September 11 CEST). He asked why he should even take part in it – he had previously agreed to the duel. Now he wrote on his platform Truth Social that Harris refuses to give interviews and now she wants to change the rules of the debate to “ABC Fake News”. A spokesman for Trump said: “ABC offered exactly the same debate rules as CNN and we accepted them – as did the Harris camp.”
The speaker was referring to the TV debate between Trump and the then Democratic presidential candidate, US President Joe Biden. During the debate, the microphones of the person who was not speaking were muted.
The two faced off in a debate hosted by CNN in June. Biden’s disastrous performance led to his withdrawal from the campaign, and US Vice President Harris will now run for the Democrats against Trump in the presidential election on November 5.
Lessons from Biden’s TV debacle
According to reports, the muting in the Biden-Trump debate was the work of Biden’s team. The Democrats wanted to prevent Trump from constantly interrupting the 81-year-old Democrat. Biden later complained that Trump had interrupted him and thus thrown him off track. But since the microphones were muted, no one noticed. After the debate, observers came to the conclusion that – contrary to plan – the muted microphones actually helped Trump because they made the 78-year-old appear more controlled.
