Brace yourself for wild debate night
Mute button may change tactics, but not strategy
WASHINGTON – The last-minute decision to cut microphones during portions of the final presidential debate injected a new element of uncertainty into a political event that could be a make-or-break moment for President Donald Trump.
After a debate Sept. 29, during which Trump repeatedly interrupted Democrat Joe Biden, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it will mute each candidate’s microphone for two minutes as their rival answers questions.
“Anytime there’s a debut of a major new rule like this, it’s going to cause a degree of uncertainty,” said Aaron Kall, director of debate at University of Michigan.
The decision set off a furious debate about whether the move would lower the temperature of an especially vitriolic and divisive presidential campaign and whether it would benefit Trump or Biden more. Because he’s down in the polls, Trump has more at stake in the final debate than Biden, who has the luxury of simply trying to maintain the status quo.
Republicans eyed the final debate, set for 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, as perhaps Trump’s last opportunity to reset a campaign in which polls show the president trailing in most major battleground states. Though Trump aides trashed the microphone decision as “unfair,” even some critics of the president acknowledged it might work to his advantage.
Aides to Trump signaled for several days that the campaign wants the president to give Biden more room to talk – not just as part of an effort to soften Trump’s image but also to give Biden more room to make an error.
Others said the tactics may change because of the mute button decision, but there is no change in the overall strategy.
“I wouldn’t want him to change his strategy,” said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney who helped with debate prep. “I want him to dominate the debate. I want him to be the stronger one.”
Giuliani described the microphone
decision as unfair and said it undercuts the debate commission’s credibility.
“Let them interrupt,” he said. “If the idea is a candidate pays a price for that, fine.”
Kall predicted the decision to cut audio may have limited effect. Candidates will still be allowed to spar – and interrupt – during open discussions, which will make up the majority of the 90minute debate. Microphones will be cut at set times not arbitrarily.
Alan Schroeder, a presidential debate historian and author of the book “Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail,” said there’s no precedent for muting microphones because the problem hadn’t cropped up to the same degree in past races.
The muting feature is unlikely to change the dynamic between Trump and Biden and is more of a move aimed at those watching at home, he said.
Frank Fahrenkopf, chairman of the debate commission, noted that both campaigns agreed months ago that the first four minutes of an exchange would
be free of interruption. Both candidates, he said, violated that rule during the first debate. On Fox News, Fahrenkopf characterized the decision not as a new rule but enforcement of an old one.
Still, observers said, the change could allow Trump to argue the nonpartisan commission changed the terms to benefit Biden.
“If the president wants to be a jerk and again do damage to himself, they should let him,” said Brendan Buck, who worked for former Republican House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan. “There’s no such thing as a Trumpproof debate setup, and all this does is give his campaign one more reason to claim the system is rigged against him.”
Enforcement of debate rules can make for unanticipated drama on stage.
Ronald Reagan complained about the cutting of a microphone during a primary debate in 1980 in New Hampshire. When moderators attempted to cut off his sound, Reagan stood up from the table, took the microphone in his hand and boomed, “Is this on?” As the audi
ence cheered and responded that it was, the moderator again asked for the audio to be cut, Reagan interjected, “I am paying for this microphone.”
A question left unanswered is whether Trump will honor the code of silence when his microphone is cut or use it as an opportunity to needle Biden from across the stage, Schroeder said.
“This is a president who doesn’t like being told what to do and what not to do,” he said. “And sometimes it is his natural reaction to push back.”
Biden said he supported silencing microphones so candidates could explain their positions.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Biden told WISN-TV in Milwaukee. “I think there should be more limitations on us not interrupting each other.”
Ken Spain, a veteran GOP consultant, predicted it would take a major unforced error on Biden’s part to change the trajectory of the election.
“Right now, the only person who can beat Joe Biden is Joe Biden,” Spain said.