Sources on Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign tell CNN that they understood that ABC News would provide some form of airtime to the veep on the night of the September 10th debate whether or not convicted felon former President Trump grabs his balls and honors his agreement to face President Biden, though it’s not clear yet where ABC lands on this hypothetical Harris-only plan.
The most similar recent situation we have is actually both pretty recent and similar-ish: ABC canceled a GOP primary debate set for January 18th in New Hampshire after former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said she would only show up if Trump would. Donald of course fucked off, then Haley did, and ABC for obvious reasons did not want Ron DeSantis and two empty podiums.
But Kamala Harris is not Ron DeSantis and we would put it well north of 50-50 that they end up giving her the time one way or another. We’re wondering if Harris should – provided ABC would go along with it – pull some kind of stunt like offering the fat bastard’s spot to Libertarian nominee Chase Oliver. There’s not much to be gained by an empty podium if the format’s going to be exactly the same as the CNN debate where she’s going to have to answer tough questions without having Trump there as contrast (not trying to underestimate her, she could very well end up crushing it anyway, though). If that calculus says there are significantly more votes out there – ones that will never be sold on Kamala but can be flipped from Trump to Oliver – than she’d risk losing to Oliver then it maybe it’d be worth it to elevate and legitimize him for a nationally-watched debate.
In related news, in obvious response to the blowback over their far too Trump-friendly framing, the New York Times on Saturday further unfucked their article about Trump’s Friday night Truth Social post, as a report that was originally headlined “Trump Agrees to a Fox News Debate With Harris on Sept 4,” then updated to “Trump Proposes a Fox News Debate With Harris on Sept 4,” emphasis ours, has been edited to a much more accurate “Trump Cancels a Debate With Harris on ABC News and Pitches One With Fox News Instead.” The byline also now credits political correspondents Neil Vigdor and Maggie Haberman along with the original writer, intern “fellow” Simon Levien.
The lede’s been changed from “Former President Donald J Trump said late Friday that he agreed to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept 4 in an event moderated by Fox News. If it happens, that would be the second presidential debate this election cycle and the first between Mr Trump and the new Democratic candidate,” to “Former President Donald J Trump declared late on Friday that he was dropping out of an ABC News debate scheduled for Sept 10 and presented a counterproposal to Vice President Kamala Harris, his presumptive opponent, to face off on Fox News six days earlier.”