After repeated negotiations, Trump and Harris finalized the debate held by ABC on September 10. But now, the two have not reached a consensus on a rule: during the debate, will the microphones be muted when the candidates are not speaking? On August 28, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Trump said that the rules of this debate are the same as the last time. The US political news website "Politico" said that at the encouragement of Biden's team, the "mute microphone" rule was implemented in the last debate between Trump and Biden. But Harris' team staff said that the two candidates had previously agreed to "not mute the microphone", and Trump "seemed" to have changed his mind.

On the same day, Trump posted on his own social media platform "Truth Social" that he had reached an agreement with the "radical left-wing Democratic Party" and would debate with "Comrade Harris" on September 10. According to him, the rules of this debate are the same as the last debate he held with Biden on CNN: stand-up debate, candidates are not allowed to bring notes or cheat sheets...

Trump called ABC "ABC Fake News", but at the same time said that ABC has guaranteed that "this will be a 'fair and just' debate, and neither side will be given debate questions in advance." He also mentioned that Harris "will not agree" to participate in the debate held by Fox News on September 4, and the third debate "may be broadcast by NBC", which has not yet been determined.

In response, Amal Moussa, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, said in a statement: "Both candidates had previously publicly stated that they were willing to use unmuted microphones during the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates. But Donald Trump later appeared to have his agent overrule his decision. How sad!"

In recent days, whether candidates should "turn off their microphones" when they are not speaking has become a focus of debate between the Trump and Harris campaigns. Politico reported on August 26 that four people familiar with the matter revealed that with only 15 days left before the debate scheduled for September 10, negotiations between the two campaign teams have reached a deadlock, with the focus of the debate being whether candidates should turn off their microphones when it is not their turn to speak. These sources said that the Trump team supports "turning off the microphones", but the Harris team holds the opposite view.

It is worth mentioning that, under the promotion of Biden’s team, the presidential debate held on CNN on June 27 implemented the "closed mic" rule.

 

But the reality is that the debate was "disastrous" for Biden, prompting him to finally announce his withdrawal from the race. At the same time, Trump advisers believe that the results show that the "mute" rule is in Trump's favor because it prevents Trump from having "frequent, self-harming outbursts" during the debate. Instead, Biden and his poor performance became the focus of the audience.

Harris' team holds the same view and is trying to push for the microphone to be turned on throughout the debate.

"We have told ABC and other potential debate networks in October that we believe both candidates' microphones should remain on at all times," Brian Phelan, a senior communications adviser for the Harris campaign, told Politico. "Our understanding is that Trump's handlers prefer that the microphones remain off because they do not believe Trump can play the role of president for 90 minutes on his own."

Privately, Harris' team believes Harris can make Trump lose his cool and say something inappropriate during the debate. "If he (Trump) tries to interrupt her, she will be more than happy to argue with him," a person familiar with the negotiations revealed. "Given that he seems to be shaken by her, he will lose his temper easily... I think the (Harris) campaign wants the audience to hear this."