KAMALA Harris and Donald Trump will go head to head in their first greatly-anticipated presidential debate this evening, but a change to one rule has reportedly thrown the Democrat campaign team.
The debate will air on ABC News and the pair will be forced to follow a set of six strict guidelines.
There will be no live audience at the debate and the candidates will not give opening statements, CBS News reported.
Microphones will be muted when candidates are not speaking to prevent unnecessary interruptions.
And it is this rule that has reportedly thrown Harris‘ team.
The Harris campaign had already agreed to the debate conditions that were previously negotiated for Trump and Biden, but it seems they were hoping the rules on microphones would change.
“Kamala Harris had planned to object, fact-check and directly question Donald Trump while he was speaking during their debate,” Politico reported on Friday.
“But now, with rules just finalized to mute the candidates when their opponents speaks, campaign officials said Harris advisers are scrambling to rewrite their playbook.”
On an evening that holds the potential to be a pivotal moment for the presidential campaign, this rule seems to have unnerved Harris’ team.
Starting at 9 pm ET, the debate will be held at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Centre.
It will last for 90 minutes with two commercial breaks.
Harris and Trump will not be allowed to question each other during the debate.
Only the moderators – ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis – will be able to ask questions.
The candidates will have two minutes for questions, two minutes for rebuttals, and an additional minute for follow-ups and clarifications.
The pair will then each have two minutes to deliver their closing statements.
Finally, Harris and Trump will have to remain standing behind their lecterns throughout the debate.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will meet for their first debate tonight at 9 pm ET. It will be aired by ABC News and hosted by David Muir and Linsey Davis.
Here are the rules of the debate:
This rule was introduced in light of events at the 2016 debate between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to CBS News.
Trump appeared to linger near Clinton during the debate, which some Americans labeled as an intimidation tactic.
These rules were set out by ABC News last week.
On top of these strict guidelines, neither Trump nor Harris will be allowed to bring prewritten notes or props on stage.
The pair will not receive topics or questions in advance.
A virtual coin flip was done in advance of the debate to determine podium placement and the order of closing statements.
Trump won the toss and decided to give the final closing statement.
Harris chose to stand at the podium on the right.
While Harris and her campaign team were aware that the microphones were planned to be muted, it seems they were hoping for the rule to be changed ahead of Tuesday night’s TV encounter.
The Politico report suggested that un-muted microphones were wanted “so that the vice president could lean on her prosecutorial background.”
Democratic strategists reportedly argued that the terms of the debate were set out when Biden was the Democratic presidential nominee and the campaign team was wary of what he might say.
“It was a bad set of rules for someone [Biden] who needed to be protected, who never should’ve been on the debate stage. And now they’re stuck with it,” one strategist told Politico.
But others argued that the debate rules would also hinder Harris’ opponent.
“[Trump] won’t be able to do his shenanigans either,” Democratic strategist James Carville told Fox News.
The U.S. Sun approached the Harris Team for comment.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Senator JD Vance both had full lives before becoming politicians.
Walz and Vance both served in the military. Walz was in the Army National Guard for 24 years, and JD Vance was in the US Marine Corps for four years.
The veterans both share a love for Diet Mountain Dew.
However, Walz spent most of his early adulthood as a high school teacher and taught for one year in China after graduating college.
In 1999, he was the faculty advisor for the first ever Gay Straight Alliance at the high school he worked for.
Walz didn’t foray into politics until 2004 when he volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
In 2006, he ran for Congress and beat incumbent Republican Gil Gutknecht. He served until 2019, when he was elected Minnesota’s governor.
Vance, meanwhile, raised himself from a tumultuous childhood in Ohio and went to college after serving in the Marines.
After graduating from Ohio State University, he attended Yale Law School, where he started writing his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy.
Vance briefly worked in politics before moving to the technology sector in California, where he met venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
In 2016, he published his book and became a household name in popular culture.
Vance, who was once staunchly anti-Donald Trump, ran for Senate on a pro-MAGA platform in 2022 and was elected with Trump’s blessing.
Meanwhile, Moe Vela, who served as senior adviser to Joe Biden during his vice presidency said Democrats need to keep their foot on the gas if they want to defeat Trump.
“In order to beat him at the debate, she’s got to do exactly what she has been doing: stay right on message,” Vela said about Harris.
“Don’t let him throw you off your game.”
Vela urged Harris to be quick and sharp in her responses when Trump attempts to quiz her on her record.
And he warned that Trump shouldn’t underestimate Harris in tonight’s debate.
“This is a very different Kamala Harris,” Vela said.
