Debate aside, everyday is an open mic day for Trump

Things you never thought you’d never hear in 2024: Earth is cooling. Who’s Taylor Swift? Former President Trump would like his microphone muted.

No. 3 happened this week when Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign asked for the candidates’ mics to say open, or “on,” during the forthcoming presidential debate, while the Republican camp argued that candidates’ microphones should be muted when it’s not their turn to speak, as was the case during Trump’s June debate with President Biden.

(The muting in June was prompted by Trump’s incessant interruptions during his debates with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, his boorish behavior moving an exasperated Biden to say, “Will you shut up, man?”)

The matter for the next debate was settled Thursday, according to the Associated Press: Mics will be muted during the 90-minute live debate Sept. 10. But if recent history is any indicator, expect Trump to threaten to pull out of the debate, and jump back in, several more times before the big day.

The former president took to his Truth Social platform in the wee hours of Sunday and suggested that he might not show up for the debate hosted by ABC News, saying that he’d watched the network’s Sunday show with a “so-called Panel of Trump Haters” and reasoned, “Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” He then urged folks to “Stay tuned!!”

Harris’ camp shot back. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” senior advisor Brian Fallon said in a statement.

But let’s face it, when you’re Trump, every day is a hot mic day.

Truth Social is a perpetually live and open forum of free-range, unsupervised Trump proclamations. For example, his recent post praising the Border Patrol Union that reads like a Riddler communique with typos before abruptly stopping mid-sentence: “These are great patriots who work their hearts out to have a Strong and Powerfulnnz Border, only to be harassed by Border Czar Kamala Harris, who wants the.”

So fun … if this election was a low-stakes game of Mad Libs.

Tuesday he released a cringy ad for a new set of Trump trading cards via Truth Social, a commercial that’s so defiantly weird it should be muted.

Wednesday, reports emerged that the Trump campaign potentially violated a federal law prohibiting political activities on cemetery grounds when he visited Arlington National Cemetery. Invited by families of fallen troops, he posed in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Video and photos of Trump grinning and flashing a thumbs up sign in the cemetery caused outrage, adding insult atop a litany of disparaging comments he’s made about war veterans such as John McCain. If only his campaign had the ability to silence him on those occasions.

Trump’s unofficial media wing, Fox News, likely wished it had a mute button last week when the former reality show host called in to shred Harris’ DNC acceptance speech. He rambled for 10 minutes, his tirade punctuated by the beeps of someone (Trump) accidentally hitting buttons on the phone. Hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum tried several times to cut him off, “Mr. President, let me interrupt,” without success. Finally Baier interrupted Trump mid-sentence —“We appreciate that live feedback” — and cut to the next show.

It’s no secret that Trump says outlandish, offensive, damaging and untrue things that erode public confidence in American leadership, foundations and democracy itself. Rudeness and bullying are a feature, not a bug. The idea that he flies in the face of authority is a plus for many Americans who feel left behind by the institutions he berates. So why would his campaign move to curb that part of his appeal ahead of his first debate with Harris?

Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the party’s nomination at the 2024 Democratic National Convention this month in Chicago.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The answer may be quite simple: ABC’s viewing audience is not that of Fox, OAN or other right-wing outlets that have pledged fealty to Trump. While much of MAGA overlooks his BS in order to embrace his bluster, the rest of the country increasingly requires a mute button to see him as presidential, especially since Harris stepped into the race.

Harris rattles Trump in ways Biden or Hillary Clinton did not. Her campaign has turned the tables and trolled the bully, such as going after his trepidation to debate her by painting Trump as fearful of the vice president. His own Truth Social dispatches belie a paranoia about his opponent. “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?” he posted during her DNC speech. And there are increasing indications that Harris is making a dent in Trump’s appeal. DNC convention ratings were higher than the RNC’s, and multiple polls show she’s caught up with or, in some cases, surpassed Trump in swing states.

As for the forthcoming debate, ABC News confirmed that there will be no live audience, the candidates will not make opening statements and they will not be allowed to bring notes to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia where David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate. Per the Trump campaign request, mics will be muted when it’s not the candidates’ turn to speak.

As for what happens after the debate? The world is an open mic.