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this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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Remember, everybody thought the last debate was going to be a cakewalk for Biden. All he had to do was show up and not look like a sundowning dementia patient. And look how that turned out.
Harris may be able to "handle it" in that he's not going to get her all worked up where she'll break down and cry or something. But will she be able to hold her own on the debate floor? She is untested in that realm and her rally speeches show that she's still not the most confident public speaker, and I could see a situation where Trump just doesn't allow her to get a word in edgewise. Even if he says nothing but his usual incoherent word salads, if he can essentially bully her into silence by just throwing her off with his usual interruptions, firehoses of lies, and shouting down her responses, it could bolster his strongman persona, play to his mysoginist base by "putting her in her place", and give some independent voters the impression that she can't keep up.
Like I said, Harris hasn't been tested. Arguing in a courtroom is one thing when there's a judge who can keep the opposition in check and has the ability to enforce it. It's different when it's moderators who are toothless and can't or won't do anything about Trump who doesn't give a shit about the rules at all. And her continuing uneasiness when she gives rally speeches in front of friendly crowds makes me wonder how she'll handle someone who's game plan is literally to make her look like she belongs back in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.
Harris' game plan right from the beginning is that he goes to the debate and just lashes out. That's why she wanted the open mics. But like I said before, Biden got the debate he wanted on his terms and it ended up ending his campaign. Hopefully Harris isn't making the same mistake.
What's even worse, I worry that Harris may be getting coached to try to thread the needle between getting words in edgewise and not opening herself up to accusations of sounding "shrill," which is probably literally impossible.
Personally, I think her best bet is to give zero shits about being called "shrill" or "nasty," address Trump with every bit as much of the insulting and contemptuous attitude as he tries to use on her while also calling out his bullshit directly and expressing coherent policy positions, and then -- crucially -- respond to anyone who calls her "shrill" afterwards by derisively laughing and mocking weak crybaby Trump for whining that he can't handle her.
Even then, it will be an incredible challenge for her to be perceived as the winner, no matter how much sh wipes the floor with him in any objective sense.
You know they have closed mics. How do you think this situation possible?
Trump has a natrually loud voice and loves to shout. Even if his mic is muted, her mic will still pick up at least some of what he's saying. And viewers will still see he's saying something.
Plus, muted mics don't change the fact that she'll be sitting right near him and will be able to hear him. Even if the mics don't pick it up, he can still throw her off. Try talking to one person while you have another person shouting nonsense at full volume into your ear. That's what would be happening. Muted mics or no, Harris will try making her talking points and he'll just keep shouting just to throw her off. If her mics pick it up, he'll consider it a bonus.
That’s not his thing. He has zero interest in communicating anything to her that isn’t broadcast loudly. He’s all about the circus, the was never any substance there.
He knows his base will still see it, even if they don't hear everything. That is what he cares about. Messaging the base. And his message is going to be to "put her in her place". He has absolute interest in portraying himself as the alpha male who does his own thing, rules and norms be damned. That's his whole brand.
And this is assuming that the moderators have a spine. Do you think they're going to actively shut his mic off if he goes past time? There's zero chance of that happening. Trump going off at random on a hot mic = ratings. Trump demanded no fact checking last time and he got it. They continually give in to Trump's demands because they want to continue having access to him, they don't want to be labelled as "fake news" in one of his tweets, and they know that his soundbytes generate attention, and therefore ratings, and therefore money.
There has never been an instance where Trump has been successfully corralled by debate moderators. I have no reason to believe that the next debate will magicallly be the first.
Actually the Harris campaign wanted the mics on and it was the Trump campaign that wanted them muted.
And that's exactly why. His base is going to vote for him no matter what he does. If he wants to pander to the base, then let him. Harris will look good to moderates that are tired of their racist uncle going on rants during family get-togethers.
As it is, if Trump rants while his mic is muted it makes him look nuts. Sure his base will like it, but how many independent voters is he going to pick up from doing this?
Harris was in debates during the Democratic primary in 2020 (her and Joe Biden got into it over his past voting record) and debated Mike Pence in the VP debate.
Also Trump's mic will be off when it's not his turn to speak. So he won't be able to interrupt her.