After weeks of insisting on rule changes for the upcoming presidential debate, Kamala Harris finally surrendered on Wednesday. The original rules proposed to both candidates by ABC News will stand, including the muted mic setup first demanded by Joe Biden.
The Harris campaign released a letter announcing the decision to back down. It's her incessant crying in defeat that's most interesting, though. This sure sounds like someone who doesn't expect to do well and is setting up a litany of excuses.
How will Harris be "fundamentally disadvantaged" by having complete control of the floor when she's asked a question? That makes no sense on its face. There is no disadvantage in not being interrupted during a debate.
Clearly, Harris wanted a food fight because she felt that would play into her hands. Part of it was no doubt about having another "I'm speaking" moment, a line she dropped on Mike Pence during the 2020 vice presidential debate. According to a source from inside the campaign, though, that wasn't the only thing she had planned.
To understand the context of the Kavanaugh reference, one has to go back and watch how Harris spoke to the now-Supreme Court Justice back in 2018. During a hearing, the then-senator had an embarrassing moment where she tried to pin down Kavanaugh about who he knew at a certain law firm.
The entire exchange turned out to be completely manufactured. There was nothing behind Harris' leading questions. No conversation had taken place. She completely made it up as a way to try to bait Kavanaugh. In the end, she failed at doing anything meaningful, but the press went nuts over her "I'm a prosecutor" act.
Putting that all together, Harris' demand for unmuted mics was not just about hoping Trump would interrupt her. It was about her wanting to interrupt him. Harris wanted to get into a back-and-forth with Trump in which she could cosplay as a good prosecutor, prodding him with yes and no questions to loaded accusations. With the mics staying muted, Harris can't set that up, and she's ticked off about it, as evidenced by her campaign's continued whining in the letter.
Without that distraction in their back pocket, Harris' team is freaking out:
Wait, you mean Harris might actually have to talk about her positions instead of being able to hide behind viral clips? Oh, the horror.
Lastly, the idea that Trump was the one threatening to not show up is simply a lie, and one that ABC News should correct at this point. The Trump campaign agreed to the rules early on and has never said they wouldn't show up if the mics were unmuted. What they said was that the rules were set and shouldn't change. They stuck by that and won the argument. It was Harris who was desperately looking for some reason to not have to debate. Trump didn't take the bait, and now she's stuck.