Why Kamala Harris Campaign is fighting for Unmuted Debate Mics

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are scheduled to face battle in their first presidential debate next month, but the campaigns are still fighting about logistics, specifically microphones.

Trump’s campaign is advocating for microphones to be muted when it is the other person’s turn to speak. Joe Biden originally requested this regulation as the Democratic candidate.

Trump’s team eventually consented to the request, which was clearly an attempt by Biden’s campaign to limit disruptions. (The pair’s turbulent first 2020 debate was marked by numerous interruptions, with Mr. Biden finally shouting at his rival: “Will you shut up, man?”)

Kamala Harris Campaign Advocates for Unmuted Mics: Potential Advantages

Some experts believe the Trump campaign’s eagerness to maintain the muting rule for the Kamala Harris debate on September 10 is because to the great reception he received in June for a more controlled performance than many had anticipated versus Mr Biden. In practice, it rendered interruptions impossible.

The former president, on the other hand, appears unconcerned with the regulation, and has even contradicted his own team’s statements advocating for its continuation. “[It] does not matter to me. I’d prefer to have [the microphones] turned on,” he stated on Monday.

“But we agreed that it would be the same as the last time. “In that case, it was muted,” he explained.

Trump announced on social media Tuesday afternoon that he had “reached an agreement” with ABC for the September 10 debate. He did not mention mics in the post, but did say that the “rules will be the same as the last CNN debate,” which included muted mics.

In the article, he also accused the network of being “unfair,” but added that his team had been guaranteed that the debate would be “fair and equitable.”

With only two weeks until the debate, the Harris team wants to change the agreed-upon regulations so that both candidates’ microphones are unmuted during the event. What do they believe they will benefit from this change?

More broadly, they feel it has the potential to show viewers an unfiltered, even irritable, Trump, who will be audible throughout Kamala Harris’s speech.

“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,” said Kamala Harris’s spokeswoman.

Source: BBC