"Assurances." I think this is sinister, and will tell you why in a bit.

Harris campaign agrees to debate rules after "assurances" from ABC news
Thu Sep 05 2024

Kamala Harris's campaign agrees to participate in the upcoming ABC News debate with Donald Trump, after receiving assurances regarding the controversial microphone mute rule.

Key Details:

Harris's campaign initially resisted debate rules requiring muted microphones during candidates' speeches.

"Assurances" from ABC include allowing mics to be turned on during significant cross-talk and moderators explaining muted exchanges.

The Harris campaign claims the debate format will disadvantage her, but ultimately agreed to the rules to avoid jeopardizing the debate.

Diving Deeper:

Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign has officially agreed to participate in the upcoming ABC News presidential debate against former President Donald Trump after securing assurances from the network regarding contentious debate rules. These assurances were tied to the rule requiring candidates' microphones to be muted while their opponent speaks, which the Harris campaign argued would hinder direct exchanges between the candidates.

...

Despite agreeing to the final debate rules, the Harris campaign expressed frustration, stating in a letter to ABC News that the muted microphones would "fundamentally disadvantage" Harris. The letter also suggested that Trump's insistence on the muted mics was intended to shield him from direct confrontation with the vice president. "We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign's insistence on muted microphones," the letter read.

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has accused the Harris team of attempting to undermine the agreed-upon format and looking for an "escape hatch" ahead of the debate.

Kamala Harris doesn't want to speak publicly at all -- so she contrived this fake objection to get out of the debate.

But that wasn't her only goal. Remember, she's gotten "assurances" from George Stephanopolous.

Virtually everyone agreed that the muted microphones in the Trump-Biden debate worked to Trump's advantage, by getting him to stop acting so emotionally and boorishly, shouting down his opponent. Trump appeared more professional and in-control than he has than at any prior debate.

So that's one reason Harris wants the microphones unmuted. She both wants Trump to show the habits that make him unappealing to many. And if Trump somehow manages to maintain the cool demeanor he showed at the Biden debate, she wants to be able to talk over and shout down Trump, hoping that when Trump begins doing the same to her, the media will gay-op it into "Mean man shouts down Stronk Empowered Black (?) Woman."

All that is obvious. But notice she received "assurances" that ABC's leftwing "moderators" will "explain" what was said on muted mics. In other words: When the public can't hear what Kamala is saying during mic-muted moments, the media will do as Kamala has begged them to do all along and make the case for Kamala in their own words. Kamala's shaky ignorance will be cleaned up and polished by the leftwing "moderators," who will re-interpret Kamala's nonsensical mewlings into something that sounds somewhat cogent.

And if they similarly "explain" what Trump said on muted mics? Of course that will be re-fashioned in the most negative and unreasonable way possible.

Which leads me to what I think these "assurances" are really about:

Kamala is claiming that she was such a super-duper prosecutor (who by the way prosecuted almost zero cases) that muting her mic denies her the ability to use her incisive wit and skill as a rhetorician to demolish Trump. It's unfair to the Stronk Empowered Prosecutor.

I think the real "assurance" Kamala got from George Stephanopolous is this: Because we're stopping you from "fact-checking" Trump's answers in real time, Kamala, we'll do the "Fact-checking" that we're "stopping" you from doing.

Trump's rules of the debate were that the "moderators" were not allowed to comment and "fact-check" and debate Trump themselves. These secret "assurances" overturn their agreements with Trump, and will allow them to debate Trump just as Chris Wallace did in 2020, sparing the incoherent Biden from having to do so himself.

Is this allowed? No! But they'll justify it later, after springing this unannounced, unagreed-to rule change on Trump, by saying they were just "trying to save the debate" and keep the format "fundamentally intact" by keeping the mics muted but doing the "fact-checking" Kamala would have done, if only her microphone weren't muted!

So once again the media will be doing Kamala's campaigning for her while she coasts by silently, riding "vibes" of "joy."