'Stand up and debate, can't bring cheat sheets,' Donald Trump, Kamala Harris agree on rules for presidential debate
Presidential debates are crucial in the U.S. elections and have a major impact on undecided and independent voters. The first presidential debate in June was a disaster for the Democrats as the then-candidate, Biden failed to counter or even put up a solid defence against Trump.
Ahead of the first face-off between the two candidates for the U.S. presidential election in November, Donald Trump has said that he has reached an agreement with Democratic rival Kamala Harris on the rules for the presidential debate. According to Trump, for the presidential debate hosted by ABC on 10th September, the rules will be the same as the last CNN debate, in which he faced off with Joe Biden.
CREDIT: REUTERS
Rules for presidential debate
"I have reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a debate with Comrade Kamala Harris. It will be broadcast live on ABC FAKE NEWS, by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business, on Tuesday, 10th September, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rules will be the same as the last CNN debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone except, perhaps, Crooked Joe Biden. The debate will be ¡®stand up,¡¯ and candidates cannot bring notes or ¡®cheat sheets.¡¯ We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a ¡®fair and equitable¡¯ debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance (No Donna Brazile!)," Trump said.
CREDIT: REUTERS
No live mic
The debate will also not have always-on mics, and the mic of one of the candidates will be muted when the other is speaking. The two camps had been at odds over the open microphone rule, with Team Harris pushing for it to be brought back. Hot mics can be a game-changer in debates, as they can help or hurt political candidates, catching offhand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public.
CREDIT: AP
Both had agreed to debate with unmuted mics
According to the Harris campaign, both candidates had previously agreed on having the debate with unmuted mics.
¡°Both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates¡ªbut it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him. Sad!,¡± the campaign said.
Trump vs Biden in first debate
The rule largely remaining unchanged will also mean that there will be no live audience for the upcoming debate. Presidential debates are crucial in the U.S. elections and have a major impact on undecided and independent voters.
CREDIT: AP
The first presidential debate in June was a disaster for the Democrats as the then-candidate, Biden failed to counter or even put up a solid defence against Trump. The poor debate performance exacerbated calls for Biden to drop out of the race, in favour of a younger candidate.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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