"They just hate fun omg" - Netizens react to Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's presidential debate rule of muted mics and no live audience

Presidential nominees Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's campaign accepted the rules for their upcoming debate in Philadelphia, set to air on ABC next week. These include muted mics, when the other person is speaking and no live audience. The news was announced by ABC Network on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

The acceptance puts an end to the dispute between both Harris and Trump's teams about the debate guidelines. The current Vice President's campaign called for microphones to remain live during the broadcast.

As news of the announcement spread, internet users were quick to react. One commented:

"They just hate fun omg."

Many expressed their support or disappointment at the rules for the debate. Here are some comments seen on X:

"if they can’t argue and cut each other off then where’s the entertainment," one user wrote.

"Lmfaooo honestly thank you," a netizen added.

"they cant just let us have a good laugh ugh," @isitmaroon commented.

Others commented that the move would favor Donald Trump over Kamala Harris.

"Should be unmuted and have live fact checking on every single claim and especially statistics. I genuinely don't think Trump could handle it," another suggested.

"Kamala's hating this. She can't use her "I'm SPEAKING" line again," Seemingly Joshua wrote.

"We are going to get footage of him furiously yelling into a muted mic. That’s going to happen," another commented.

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"We do not want to jeopardize the debate"- Kamala Harris' team on why they accepted the muted microphone format

Per a report by CBS News, citing a letter that Kamala Harris' campaign sent to ABC News, her team explained that as a former prosecutor, she would be at a disadvantage if the mics were muted. The letter elaborated that it would prevent her from having direct exchanges with her opponent. It read:

"We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign's insistence on muted microphones."

The statement also elaborated that they were offered assurances that the mics would be unmuted if there was significant crosstalk. If either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump constantly interrupted the other, then they would be warned by the moderators, and any comments would be relayed to the audience. It concluded:

"We understand that Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format. We do not want to jeopardize the debate. For this reason, we accepted the full set of rules proposed by ABC."

Per the release by ABC, the debate will last 90 minutes and feature two commercial breaks. In addition to muting the microphones when not speaking, moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis will be the only ones asking questions. There will be no opening statements, and each candidate will have two minutes for closing remarks.

Each would be given two minutes to answer questions, two minutes to counter, and an extra minute for any follow-up or clarifications. Moderators will enforce the timing agreement.

Additionally, they held a virtual coin toss on September 3. Trump won, electing to go last for closing remarks, while Kamala Harris chose the right podium.

The presidential debate will be held at the National Constitution Center. It will air live on ABC News at 9:00 p.m. on September 10. The event will also stream on Hulu, Disney+, and ABC News Live.