Why Harris Wants to Mute Trump

CNN —

Mr. Vice President, I am speaking.

Kamala Harris' most scathing line from an otherwise unmemorable debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence in 2020 neatly explains the latest twist in her showdown with Donald Trump.

Most Democrats have heard enough from the Republican nominee. But Harris wants to give him the opportunity to say exactly what he wants, when he wants, at their scheduled debate on ABC News on Sept. 10.

The vice presidential camp is trying to reverse a rule that President Joe Biden’s team secured for his fateful debate with Trump in June, which ensured that candidates’ microphones were muted when it wasn’t their turn to speak. The restriction was seen as an attempt to prevent a repeat of Trump’s constant interruptions during their 2020 debates, prompting Biden to warn at one point, “Will you shut up, man?”

It's clear that the Harris campaign is hoping to give Trump the chance to sabotage himself with an insulting interruption or his authoritarian personality.

Trump's camp is fighting back, even though the former president on Monday undermined his own team's position by declaring that he would be very happy to lose the “silent” button.

The spat underscores the potential enormous importance of the showdown in shaping the narrative for the rest of the campaign, after CNN's most important presidential debate ever in late June eliminated Biden from the race.

That’s especially important for Trump, who has struggled to adjust to his new opponent since the withdrawal of Biden, whom Republicans were confident he would beat in November. The meeting could be his best chance to slow Harris’ momentum coming out of her Chicago convention, especially since he and his campaign believe she’s not ready for the pressure of fielding policy questions and follow-ups from a fierce opponent like Trump.

Trump needs to debate. Harris needs to debate, said Scott Jennings, a CNN political analyst and Republican. They both have something to prove.

Monday’s heated exchanges between campaign staffers were another sign of how Harris has transformed the campaign. Her team has increasingly relished the opportunity to troll Trump, the quintessential political troll. For example, she posted a video online featuring images of the former president and the sound of a chicken clucking, suggesting he might withdraw from the debate. And Harris aides suggested that Trump’s advisers were too shy to raise the microphone issue with their boss.

An open mic would test the self-discipline of Republican candidates in a debate with Harris, at a time when GOP strategists are pleading with him to stick to his policies and abandon his hard-hitting policy for the sake of his campaign.

Images of Trump speaking to the woman who has a chance to become the first black woman president and openly disrespecting her would speak for themselves. Harris would also have the opportunity to demonstrate her strength in standing up to Trump by reprising her famous debate line with Pence. Trump’s theatrics that are perceived as sexist or racially charged could alienate women, minority and suburban voters who could be key in key states in November.

The image of Trump behaving obnoxiously would fit into Harris' broader campaign narrative, which she sharpened at the Democratic convention last week, that Americans have a fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past.

“The vice president wants the American people to see an unfettered Donald Trump, because that’s what we’re going to get if he’s president again,” Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams told CNN’s Alex Marquardt. “I think it’s important that in this election and in this moment, the American people see the choice between the two candidates on stage.”

It would not be without risk for the vice president to challenge Trump to interrupt an open discussion. In 2016, the former president repeatedly spoke to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and disrupted the flow of her responses. While that seemed unflattering to the Republican candidate at the time, he nonetheless won the election.

CNN political commentator Maria Cardona offered another reason Harris might want an open mic. Muting microphones will give her the ability to both control what she says and check facts on the spot, said Cardona, a Democrat.

During her debate with Pence, conducted behind screens during the Covid-19 pandemic, Harris thwarted an attempt to interrupt her in an exchange about the pandemic by raising her hand and saying, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking. I’m speaking.”

The comment, which sounded like a moment the candidates had prepared for mock debates, made it seem as if Pence was telling Harris what he thought of him. The exchange was heightened by the rivals’ race and gender. The then-California senator liked the line so much that she repeated it later in the debate, before telling Pence, “If you don’t mind letting me finish, then we can have a conversation.”

At the time, Harris' slogan went viral, spawning memes and memorabilia on social media, including mugs, T-shirts and sweatshirts that helped build the vice president's persona.

The disagreement over the terms of the September 10 debate reveals familiar fault lines in the Trump campaign.

The candidates’ teams would prefer that microphones be muted during the debate, according to a source familiar with the matter. Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, said in a statement that the former president agreed to the ABC debate on the same terms as CNN’s with Biden. And he suggested that Harris’s change of heart suggested her debate preparation was in trouble. Even their own campaign spokesman said the debate about debates was over. Clearly, they’re watching something they don’t like, Miller said.

But as is often the case, the former president appeared to undermine his own team's position. “I don't care, I'd probably rather have it on, but the deal was that everybody was the same as last time,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Virginia. In this case, the sound was off. I didn't like it last time, but it worked out well.

He added a caveat: We have agreed to the same rules. The same rules, the same specifications. And I think that's probably what it should be.

Harris' team responded, with Sams telling CNN that the former president had resolved the issue in favor of open mics.

We have heard from the horse's mouth, he said.

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