Why Harris’ campaign team is fighting for unmuted debate microphones

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off in their first presidential debate next month, but campaign teams are still wrangling over logistical issues – particularly the microphones.

Trump’s campaign is pushing for muting microphones when it’s the other person’s turn to speak, a rule originally called for by Joe Biden when he was the Democratic nominee.

Trump’s team ultimately agreed to the request — in what was clearly an attempt by the Biden campaign to limit interruptions. (The pair’s chaotic first debate in 2020 was marked by constant interruptions, with Biden eventually snapping at his rival, “Will you shut up, man?”)

Some analysts say the Trump campaign’s willingness to keep the mute rule for the September 10 Harris debate may have been due to the positive reception Trump received for his more subdued performance against Biden in June than many had expected. In practice, this made interruptions impossible.

But the former president seems less concerned about the rule and, to some extent, even undermines the statements of his own team that advocated for its retention.”[It] I don’t care. I would rather [the microphones] probably,” he said on Monday.

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

Trump posted on social media Tuesday afternoon that he had “reached an agreement” with ABC for the September 10 debate. He did not mention microphones in his post, but said again that “the rules are the same as the last CNN debate,” where silent microphones were part of the rules.

In his report, he also accused the broadcaster of “unfair behavior,” but said his team had been assured that the debate would be “fair and just.”

On Tuesday, it was unclear whether the Harris team had signed the terms that Trump said he had agreed to with ABC.

The Harris team wants to change the agreed rules two weeks before the end of the debate so that both candidates’ microphones will not be muted during the entire debate. What do they think this change could do for them?

In general, they believe the show has the potential to show viewers a more unfiltered, even ill-tempered Trump, which will be heard throughout Ms. Harris’ speech.

“We understand that Trump’s advisers prefer the silent microphone because they do not believe their candidate can act as president for 90 minutes alone,” Harris’ spokesman said in a statement.

“The reason she says to mute the microphones is because Trump is out of control,” Ameshia Cross, a Democratic strategist and political analyst, told the BBC.

Ms Cross said Trump’s rallies and Truth Social posts, in which he repeatedly launched personal attacks against Ms Harris, were examples of how he might handle the upcoming debate on ABC News.

These attacks would “turn off voters,” especially female voters, voters of color and young voters, Cross said.

Strategists have also suggested that Trump’s insults could turn off crucial undecided voters. “One way to win over swing voters is not to use personal attacks,” Kevin Madden, a longtime Republican strategist, told the New York Times. “By nature, they don’t like partisan calculation.”

If Trump’s microphone isn’t muted while Harris is speaking, the likelihood of an audible insult or interruption increases. And the Harris campaign may believe that a more aggressive Trump, who can interrupt at will, could benefit them by scaring off these swing voters.

This is significant in an election that will be decided by a relatively small group of undecided voters in a handful of swing states like Pennsylvania, where the debate is taking place.

“He is very prone to excessive outbursts and… I think the [Harris] Campaign wants viewers to hear [that],” a person familiar with the debate negotiations told Politico this week.

The Trump campaign is reportedly keen for its candidate to focus on core issues rather than personal attacks. An ally who speaks to the former president every week Katty Kay recently told the BBC that Trump will win in November if he limits himself to talking about the economy, the border and crime.

It is safe to assume that if the candidates are only heard during their allotted response time – as the Trump team wants – the debate will focus more on the substantive issues rather than on tense clashes and heated exchanges, as would be possible with live microphones.

Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, told the BBC that he believed the Harris campaign’s efforts to mute microphones were an attempt to steer the debate away from the real issues and into the arena of viral snapshots.

“They’re not sure they can win with these issues, so they’re looking for every possible opportunity to have a viral moment,” he said.

Ms Harris has experienced such moments in the past. During the 2020 vice presidential debate between then-Vice President Mike Pence and Ms Harris, a clip of her resisting an interruption was widely shared. “I am speaking, Mr Vice President,” she said.

O’Connell said the Trump campaign should continue to aggressively push for muting microphones because those are the rules the Democratic campaign originally came up with. He said the message should be: “We let you write the rules, we’ll follow the same rules.”

However, Ms Cross said the Harris team has called Trump’s bluff and has the upper hand. “If he doesn’t want them to unmute him, he’s going to look weak, like he can’t control himself,” she said.

While Ms. Cross said Trump was trying to wriggle out of the debate by attacking the network, Mr. O’Connell said the Republican candidate would definitely show up at the important event.

“The debate on September 10 could be the decisive moment between now and Election Day,” he said.