Posted in: ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: ABC, debates, donald trump, kamala harris, opinion

ABC Debate: Trump Backing Out? VP Harris Wants Trump to Have Open Mic

Two big question marks call into question if ABC's September 10th debate between VP Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will actually happen.

Is everyone excited for ABC's September 10th debate between ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris? Great! Because it's starting to look more and more like it might not happen – even after MTV was kind enough to reschedule its 2024 VMAs for it (rude). So what went down between Sunday night and Monday morning to make the already-questionable one-on-one between the candidates a lot more questionable? Here's a look…

Donald Trump Laying the Groundwork to Avoid Debating VP Harris? Using the This Week interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) as an excuse, Trump took to his social media late on Sunday to act like he was just learning that next month's debate would be on ABC. "I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl's(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" Trump ranted – going on to rant about things like how George Stephanopoulos shouldn't be involved (he's not – David Muir and Linsey Davis are serving as moderators). "They've got a lot of questions to answer!!!" Trump ended his steaming pile of opinions with. "Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!"

A quick history lesson. Back in May, Trump and then-Democratic POTUS nominee and President Joseph Biden agreed upon two debate dates – before either one of them was more than their party's respective nominees: June 27th on CNN and September 10th on ABC. Since that time, President Biden stepped down as the Democratic POTUS nominee, with VP Harris now officially holding that title. When that happened, the Trump campaign did everything possible to argue that meant that the agreement was no longer binding. First, they attempted the old "she's not the party's official nominee" excuse to block the ABC debate – except President Biden also wasn't when the debate dates were initially announced.

Then, they claimed that Trump couldn't go on ABC because there would be a "conflict of interest" since Trump is in litigation with the network over comments made by Stephanopoulos. The big problem with that? The suit was filed two months before the debate dates were originally agreed upon – so why wasn't there a "conflict" then? As for why some networks are being chosen, that also dates back to the original agreement. When Trump and President Biden were finalizing details, FOX "News" and MSNBC were taken off the table as hosts – with the guideline being that only a network that hosted a 2016 Republican primary debate and a 2020 Democratic primary debate were eligible. With those two networks off the table and CNN offering its version of a "debate" earlier this summer, it only makes sense that the debates would shift to the broadcast networks.

VP Harris Wants to Give Donald Trump a "Hot Mic": On Monday morning, we learned that VP Harris' camp was looking for a major change to ABC's September 10th debate – and any additional debates: they want Trump to have a live mic, not muted as was the case with the June debate between Trump and President Biden. "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," shared Brian Fallon, VP Harris campaign's senior adviser for communications, in a statement. "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. We suspect Trump's team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don't think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button." In response, the Trump campaign says that it plans to abide by the original rules laid out earlier this year – because now those matter, we're guessing.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!