Here is a place were we can prognosticate about the upcoming Presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
We can kvetch about 'will he or won’t he?’, to mute or not to mute and all manner of conjecture in the run up to September 10.
And of course dish on our reactions during the debate and to deliver our post-mortems.
ABC News is hosting the second presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. The debate will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis will moderate the debate, ABC News said.
Who won’t be there? Everyone else running for President. Candidates need to earn at least 15% support in four approved national polls and be on the ballot in enough states to be able to win 270 votes in the Electoral College — the threshold to win the presidency — in order to qualify.
Trump also proposed two other debates, with Fox News on Sept. 4 and NBC News on Sept. 25. Candidates that believe they are losing always want more debates. Harris has not yet agreed to the two additional debates.
Prediction: Trump will show up, Harris will do fine and it probably won’t move the needle much at all.
Funny how they are still arguing about muting, this time in the opposite direction.
I can see why you would want him muted against Joe Biden, but I bet the Harris campaign would love the optics of him trying to walk over a woman and bully her.
I’m picturing Trump looming over Harris like he did to Hillary, Harris wheeling around and kicking him in the nuts, and then a three hour Secret Service Battle Royale defending their respective charges.
Somebody call Lorne Michaels and get the Jon Lovitz hydraulic podium sent over to ABC, stat.
Seriously, I don’t know if Trump has ever been in a room with Harris, but the size differential won’t be lost on him or the TV audience. I wouldn’t be surprised if he rolls out Widdel Kamawah as a new nickname.
Hopefully the Harris advance team will insist on a riser. Why didn’t they get her a phonebook to sit on during the CNN interview? TV is a visual medium afterall.
The debate will air live on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Viewers who do not have a cable subscription can watch on ABC.com.
ABC is also offering the debate for simulcast, which several networks have agreed to carry.
After a weekslong back and forth over the issue, the Harris campaign agreed to follow the June debate rule that each candidate’s microphone will be muted while their opponent is speaking.
Naw, he’s around 6’ these days. A dumpy layabout like him will have shrunk considerably. I’m sure he wears lifts, but even those probably can’t get him back to 6’ 3".
I think this will end up being a positive for Harris. DT’s best “strategy” to “win” the debate is just to barrel over her verbally and constantly interrupt. IMHO the Harris camp was overthinking it (or maybe just trolling?) with the idea that allowing him to do that gives him more rope to say something awful, but he’s just as bound to do that during his time anyway (with probably zero or minimal marginal impact on his support).
DT’s main talking points are fairly easily countered (for whatever that’s worth) and should not be much trouble for Harris if she is actually allowed to speak. DT has already owned himself on the border (killing the bipartisan bill, his wall failure), the economy (his job numbers stink vs. Biden-Harris and his tax plan will blow up the deficit yet again), and even inflation (his tariff plan will make it worse).
In the end, this debate very likely will matter very little. For Harris, it should be a check-the-box exercise like that CNN interview of sticking to the script of succinctly presenting your plan/vision and repeating her attacks and counterattacks on DT. Some new attacks would be a good idea to keep DT playing some defense.
The ad, titled The Best People, features former Trump cabinet members dumping on DJT. Will air nationally on Fox and in West Palm Beach and Philadelphia media markets tomorrow.
I think there’s a fair chance Trump will take a swing at Kamala at some point during the debate. Hopefully some sort of on camera Secret Service rumble will then ensue.
Yeah I think a lift would be misleading to the voters about a candidate’s physical parameters. In the same vein, they should probably ban makeup and hair pieces.
I have post Joe Biden Debate PTSD. I’m not sure if I can watch. I’m more likely to be sitting in a corner rocking, clutching a bottle of single malt, waiting for it to be over. If I had more hands I’d be all:
