Tired of debating debates

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If there was any doubt about the continued relevance of presidential debates, the previous meeting between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump should have settled that question. Biden’s eye-opening performance was so disastrous that it set off a series of cascading events, including his withdrawal from the race and the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate.

In other words, debates still matter. They give voters important insight into the candidates, their abilities, personalities, tone, and plans for this country. Now that Trump and Harris are officially their parties’ nominees, it’s important for voters to see both candidates stay true to their promise to debate each other in front of the American people.

Unfortunately, it looks like that commitment may no longer be in place for the ABC News debate scheduled for September 10, as Harris’ campaign team is trying to change the previously agreed-upon rules and Trump was musing earlier this week that he might not show up after all (after also torn about attending earlier this month).

“Why would I do the debate against Kamala Harris on this network?” Trump wrote online Sunday night, accusing ABC News of bias. Late Tuesday, however, in a social media post criticizing both ABC News and Harris, Trump said he had “reached an agreement” to participate in the upcoming debate under the same rules as before, CNN reported.

Despite this announcement, Harris’ campaign was reportedly still in talks with the network about when the candidates’ microphones would be turned on and off during the debate. So as of Wednesday morning, it was still unclear whether the debate would take place on September 10.

Why would Trump debate Harris on ABC? The simplest answer to his question, without accepting his attacks on the network, is that he has already agreed to do so. The same general principle applies to Harris and her campaign, even though the original agreement was between the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign, both of which Harris was a part of before she was at the top of the ballot.

When she and her team agreed to hold the debate as planned, it was reasonable to assume that the same rules would be followed. Her campaign team is reportedly trying to change those rules so that candidates’ microphones remain on even when they are not speaking. The previously agreed-upon rules stated that these so-called hot mics would not be allowed.

Given the current tone of the campaign, and especially Trump’s long-standing penchant for interruptions and false claims, we believe the silent mic rules made sense at the first debate and still make sense now – and not just because everyone had already agreed to them. American voters don’t need to listen to an hour-and-a-half of shouting matches with the candidates talking over each other. What they need is a factual exchange of ideas, policies and vision for the country.

In a perfect world, candidates wouldn’t have to turn off their microphones when others are speaking. But recent experiences, such as the disastrous first presidential debate in 2020, have unfortunately shown the value of such a rule.

The usefulness of this rule is almost not the crucial issue, because it was already agreed upon. So instead of ranting during the campaign about who wants to debate with whom and who doesn’t, or where the debate should take place, Harris and Trump should simply stick to the plan and let the voters judge their performance.

“We agreed to the same rules, I don’t know, I don’t care, I probably would rather have it on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as last time,” Trump said Monday when asked about the hot mic rules.

Harris’ campaign then cynically tried to use these comments as an endorsement of their attempted rule change.

“Unless Donald Trump allows his advisers to overrule him, there will be a full debate between the two candidates with live microphones, where both candidates can lay out their vision for where they want to take the country,” Michael Tyler, communications director for Harris’ campaign, responded on Monday, CNN reported.

This back and forth and back and forth from each side has only made the debate seem less likely at times and the candidates seem like backtrackers. If both are actually willing to debate each other, they should proceed with the previously agreed network and rules. Enough of the debates about debates.

topicnews · August 28, 2024

Tired of debating debates

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