Aug 26, 2024
Is Trump Getting COLD FEET About Debating Kamala Harris?
The Harris campaign is alleging that former president Donald Trump's own campaign is arguing for a muted mic to help control his outbursts.
- 9 minutes
We agreed to the same rules,
same rules and same specifications, and I
think that's probably what it should be.
But they're trying to change it.
The truth is they're trying to get out of
it because she doesn't want to debate.
She's not a good debater.
She's not a smart person.
[00:00:15]
She doesn't want to debate.
The former president himself
kind of posted on social media yesterday,
throwing doubt into whether or not he may
actually try to pull out of this debate.
He wrote, quote, why would I do the debate
against Kamala Harris on that network?
[00:00:31]
He said that as he continued to,
he said he was watching the Sunday show
yesterday on ABC, was slamming some
of the the key people at the network.
Will there be a presidential debate
between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
on ABC as planned on September 10th?
[00:00:47]
I think so they're just renegotiating
the terms of said debate.
Donald Trump likes to play this game
where he's like, I don't like the network.
Maybe I don't do the debate.
I think he's going to do the debate now.
As you heard earlier, Trump is saying
that he does have a problem
with ABC news hosting that debate because
they haven't been friendly enough to him,
[00:01:05]
but they're also having some disagreements
about whether or not to mute the mics,
as was the case with the debate
between Trump and Biden.
Take a look.
Back in June for that June 27th CNN debate
between Trump and Biden,
there were a whole host of different rules
that they had agreed to,
[00:01:22]
including having the microphones
be turned off when one of the candidates
was not speaking.
The Trump campaign, we're told,
still wants that rule to be in place.
However, the Harris campaign
is now saying this is a new candidate.
We are different campaign
and we want the mics to be on
[00:01:41]
for the extent of the debate.
Just have the mics on.
But, you know, I don't even know if
the Trump campaign is really against it.
I just think they want to like fight
the Kamala team on everything.
I think the debates are going to happen.
I think their mics will be live.
[00:01:56]
I think we should all move on with this.
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[00:02:11]
Okay so first of all both
sides need to stop yapping.
Just do the debate. Okay.
Nobody cares if the mikes are on or off.
You have notes
or you're sitting or standing.
Nobody cares.
Just do the goddamn debate
and stop whining all day long.
So that's point one. Point two is.
I get it, guys. Don't get me wrong.
[00:02:27]
Kamala Harris's team is doing
a really good job of going on the offense
and getting inside his head,
and it's actually pretty easy
to get inside that tiny little head.
There's a lot of room there because
there isn't much happening up there.
So they go, oh, he you know,
we should have the mics on.
[00:02:43]
And of course, his own team is good and
then worry because they know that their
boss is an idiot and might sound like one
if you leave the mics on the entire time.
So that's good thinking on their part
to agitate internally.
They they do exactly as they thought they
would, and Trump reacts in the way that
[00:03:01]
they thought he would, which oh so what?
Keep the mics on.
I'm a genius.
I'll say everything is smart.
Oh, I'm the smartest guy there is.
Oh, she's dumb I'll do well,
by the way, that is not
a great thing to say before a debate.
You're not supposed
to get expectations really high.
Oh, I'm such a stable genius.
She's such a dummy.
[00:03:17]
So then, one good point.
Then when you go out there
and you make a fool of yourself, as you
guaranteed will, then you look even worse.
I think one of the biggest mistakes
everyone tends to make
when they're about to engage in a debate
is underestimating your opponent.
[00:03:33]
And yeah, you hear Trump doing that,
but you also hear Kamala Harris's team
doing the same.
In fact, to your point, Jake,
I do think that Kamala Harris's team
is doing a good job trolling Trump
and getting under his skin.
But I really hope that they're not
underestimating his debate performance.
[00:03:53]
And I'll tell you what I mean by that
in just a moment.
But first, take a look at this.
The Harris campaign says
that they want these mics to be on.
And in a statement, a senior campaign
official saying the following, quote,
our understanding is that Trump's handlers
prefer the muted microphone because they
[00:04:08]
don't think their candidate can act
presidential for 90 minutes on his own.
The statement goes on to say
that they don't think he can handle
himself against Vice President Harris
without the benefit of a mute button.
So that's meant to troll Trump,
and that's meant to get under his skin.
[00:04:25]
And I'm kind of amused by it,
because I don't think Trump is used
to this, especially from Democrats.
And so I think that's the reason
why you're seeing him
playing defense constantly.
Whereas prior to Kamala Harris's campaign,
he was constantly off,
you know, in the offense.
[00:04:41]
Now, the other thing I'll just
quickly mention is, I don't know,
be careful what you wish for,
because if past debate performances
are any indication, one thing
that Trump does do is steamroll, right?
And so Kamala Harris during the 2020
primaries was not a great debater.
[00:04:57]
She wasn't that great.
And so I'm worried
that she'll get distracted
by him interrupting while his mic is hot.
I, I think it's amazing that our parties
put up people who could barely debate and
they're all so nervous, like, oh my God,
[00:05:15]
what if Trump steamrolls
Trump's a total buffoon, total moron
if you can't beat him in a debate like,
look, Anna, I hear what you're saying.
You know me. I would prepare to no end.
I would have every nook
and cranny prepared.
[00:05:32]
I would have every contingency prepared
because I don't take anything lightly.
And then I would.
Then I couldn't wait to debate Trump.
I couldn't wait to eviscerate him.
- I know.
- But you're not Kamala Harris.
Okay, but what is?
What's wrong with our party's?
Why can't they get someone?
I mean, debating is not that hard, guys.
It's not that hard.
[00:05:51]
Do you know your policies, don't you?
Can you defend your policies?
And against a moron like Trump?
It's not that hard.
But you know, what's going to drive me
crazy is they're going to have the debate.
Trump is going to say
at least five major lunatic things.
[00:06:07]
I mean, like things that are
just nowhere near reality, right?
Like things that could get you
locked up in a mental hospital.
And everybody's then going
to debate like minutia instead of the fact
that one guy in the debate is crazy.
One guy is total utter lunatic.
Nope nope nope nope.
[00:06:24]
Let's let's all pretend
that he's not crazy when he obviously is.
Yeah.
And look, oftentimes debate isn't even
about the substance, which is frustrating.
But we have to be able
to separate the two, right?
Substance matters.
We care about substance.
We care about policy.
And when it comes to a presidential
debate, we want to know, you know,
[00:06:41]
how do we differentiate these two figures?
What are they going to do
should they win the election?
However, a lot of what leads
to someone winning the debate is optics
and whether or not someone seems strong,
whether or not someone seems
confident in what they're saying.
Right.
[00:06:56]
Because most Americans, they're not going
to be fact checking in real time.
They're going to be watching it
and they're going
to be judging based on the optics.
And so I want to go to this last video
because Trump was asked
whether he would be in favor
of the hot mics during the debate.
Here's what he had to say.
[00:07:12]
Would you want the microphones muted in
the debate whenever you're not speaking?
We agreed to the same rules.
I don't know, doesn't matter to me.
I'd rather have it probably on.
But the agreement was that it would
be the same as it was last time.
In that case it was muted.
[00:07:28]
I didn't like it the last time,
but it worked out fine.
I mean, ask Biden how it worked out.
It was fine.
And I think it should be the same.
We agreed to the same rules,
same rules and same specifications, and I
think that's probably what it should be.
[00:07:43]
But they're trying to change it.
The truth is they're trying to get out of
it because she doesn't want a debate.
So I don't think she's trying
to get out of it.
But I will give him credit
for not taking the bait.
When the Kamala Harris team
tried to troll him on this issue, well.
He partly did.
[00:07:59]
I'm going to mainly rule on his side,
but his team is saying no,
we want the mics muted.
And he said in that clip
he doesn't mind if they're unmuted,
which contradicts his team and then gets
them into more internal sniping.
And that's why it was well played
by the Kamala Harris team.
[00:08:15]
Having said that,
on the substance, Trump is right.
You had the rules. Stick with the rules.
There was nothing wrong with the rules.
And I also liked this little jab
at ask Biden how it turned out.
Right.
I would emphasize that more if I was him.
So ferry span in America.
So Trump is right about that.
[00:08:34]
He's not right about constantly
whining about the network.
There's look,
I don't let's just put it this way.
I don't have a lot of friends
on cable news, okay.
I would do a debate anytime, anywhere.
I don't care who the moderators are.
[00:08:52]
If I have to take on the moderators,
I'll take on the moderators.
And you can find out a lot of sympathy
by doing that, too.
From the audience, from the voters.
There's a lot of different ways
to play a debate, okay.
Whining about who the moderators are
or who the network is is not one of them.
[00:09:07]
It makes you look weak and petty.
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