Vice President Kamala Harris is hoping former President Donald Trump will pull a stunt most women dread at their upcoming presidential debate, a new analysis contends.
Harris' demand for unmuted mics during the ABC News debate on Sept. 10 represents a strategic attempt to prompt the response she elicited then slapped down from former Vice President Mike Pence in their 2020 debate, CNN reported Tuesday.
“Mr. Vice President," Harris told Pence in a viral campaign moment, "I’m speaking.”
According to CNN, Harris is hoping she'll face "mansplaining" again.
Pence's interruption "left the impression that Pence was mansplaining to Harris," CNN analyst Stephen Collins argued.
He added, "Harris’ most stinging line in an otherwise unmemorable debate" is one she wants to whip out against her new foe.
"It’s obvious that the Harris campaign hopes to give Trump the chance to sabotage himself with an insulting interruption or his overbearing personality," wrote the senior political reporter.
"Visuals of Trump talking over and openly disrespecting the woman who has a chance to be the first Black woman president would speak for themselves."
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The opportunity to shut down a mansplain is not the only benefit Harris could receive by providing Trump more rhetorical leeway, according to Collins' sources.
Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams told CNN they believe Trump will effectively do their work for them by presenting himself unfavorably to undecided voters.
“The vice president wants the American people to see an unfettered Donald Trump because that’s what we are going to get if he becomes president again,” Sams reportedly said. “I think it is important that in this election and in this moment that the American people get to see the choice between the two candidates on stage.”
Harris, a former prosecutor, also believes she can accomplish what critics said debate moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash failed to do in the contest between Trump and President Joe Biden earlier this summer, CNN political commentator Maria Cardona told Collins.
“By having the mics unmuted, it is going to give her the ability to control both what she says," Cardona said, "as well as fact-checking him on the spot."
