Trump's late night rant signals plan to evade debate with Harris: columnist

Donald Trump appears to be “laying the groundwork” to pull out of the September 10 debate with his Democratic presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, after posting a late Sunday night rant attacking the network scheduled to host it. Behind the scenes, the Trump campaign reportedly is refusing a simple Harris campaign request: keep the mics on.

“So definitely looks like Trump is laying the groundwork to pull out of the ABC News debate,” noted Zeteo News media columnist Justin Baragona, after Trump asked, “why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?”

“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump’s overnight tirade reads. “Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”

The Harris campaign has stated they would stick to the dates and networks Trump agreed to with President Joe Biden. The ABC News debate is the only one agreed to that remains.

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Earlier this month The New York Times reported Dana Walden, a close friend of Harris, is an executive at ABC. But, “ABC News says that any perception of a conflict involving Ms. Walden is not reality. The company says that the executive, who oversees 18 businesses across the sprawling Disney empire, is only involved in the news division’s corporate matters (like budgets and staff size) and that she has no say in editorial decisions.”

Previously saying he would not do the ABC News debate, “days later, Trump confirmed during a rambling news conference he’d recommitted to the ABC News debate against Harris,” The Daily Beast reports.

“On August 3, Trump said the ABC News event—to which he’d originally agreed while believing Biden would be the Democratic nominee—had been ‘terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant,'” The Beast explained. “Instead, he said he’d agreed to do a debate on Fox News on Sept. 4. He later indicated that he wouldn’t agree to any debates with Harris if she didn’t do the Fox News event, writing: ‘I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all.'”

Meanwhile, Politico Playbook reports Monday that behind the scenes, the Trump campaign is refusing to agree to the Harris campaign’s request the microphones stay on at all times, a change from CNN debate rules where microphones were on only for the candidate who was supposed to be speaking.

“It’s clear the veep’s team is hoping to get Trump to lose his cool on mic,” Playbook reports.

Harris is “more than happy to have exchanges with him if he tries to interrupt her,” a “person familiar with the negotiations tells Playbook.”

“And given how shook he seems by her, he’s very prone to having intemperate outbursts,” they said. “I think the campaign would want viewers to hear [that].”

The “Trump campaign sees this all as a bait-and-switch. They want the ABC debate governed by the CNN rules, according to two sources,” Politico adds.

“Our understanding,” Harris campaign senior adviser for communications Brian Fallon said in a statement, CNN reports, “is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.”

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Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement: “The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. We said no changes to the agreed upon rules.”

The Harris campaign says they did not make any of those requests.

Friday night CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins told HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” as Mediaite reported, “I still think it’s an open question, whether or not it happens.”

“I think Trump is nervous about it,” Collins added. “I think Trump– I talk to a lot of sources in his world. I think he has really struggled with it. It’s not just a narrative or a talking point from Democrats. He really has struggled with with how to to combat her. And I think going into that debate, he does not really want to do it.”

“I think it’s difficult, if not impossible, for him to pull out because his campaign manager had cards printed that said ‘anywhere, time, any place’ for President Biden. And it would look weak. But I don’t think he’s looking forward to it at this point.”

Watch the video at this link.