According to the Washington Post, the June 27th presidential debate in Atlanta to be hosted by CNN, featuring President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, will occur following to debate rules that both parties agreed to.
There will be no studio audience in attendance, which is beneficial to the television viewers because many times an audience takes up valuable debate time by lengthy applauding and cheering for their candidate even when asked to refrain from doing so.
However, the most consequential rule is that the candidate’s microphones will be muted when it’s not their turn to speak.
Muting Trump’s mic is like putting a muzzle on a junk yard dog.
It was a big mistake for the Biden team to agree to this. At first this may seem to be an advantage for Joe Biden because Trump is clearly a nuisance, behaving like a petulant child and persistently interrupting, however, muting mics helps Trump more than Biden.
Biden has self-control and with an open mic he can, with precision, selectively choose to take advantage and exploit Trump’s weakness when the opportunity arises. Trump, on the other hand, can neither control his self-described “big brain” nor his big mouth which ultimately causes self-inflicted damage.
For example, in a 2020 debate moderated by Chris Wallace, then President Trump was asked “Are you willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say they need to stand down?” Trump asked “who would you like me to condemn?” Biden, as a result of an open mic, interjected “Proud Boys”. Then Trump’s instinctual impulse kicked in and compelled him to take the bait, and with a “dog whistle” that was clearly heard by everyone, instructed the “Proud Boys” to “stand back and stand by”.
Almost immediately, the “Proud Boys” responded with a post that read, “standing back and standing by, Sir”.
Was Trump’s forced error a preview of his actions during the Jan 6 insurrection at the nation’s Capitol? If Biden’s microphone had been muted this major Trump blunder would not have occurred.
Trump also has a brute urge to dominate every discussion—except apparently, when he’s under oath, which somehow causes him to suffer from memory loss. What’s more, he cannot seem to overcome the instinct that compels him to have the last word in every dispute and respond to every criticism, no matter how insignificant and no matter how damaging to his cause. This is probably due to his deep-rooted insecurity masquerading as a superiority complex.
A controlled Trump is a more effective Trump. A muted microphone protects Trump from himself because it straps him into a verbal straitjacket that restrains his tongue. Given free rein, Trump shows the world the worst version of himself. When allowed to speak freely and spontaneously, we see that he is self-absorbed, ignorant of necessary facts, self-contradictory and inarticulate to a disturbing degree.
Trump is his own worst enemy and can be easily baited by impugning his delusions and undermining his vanity.
Take the muzzle off, turn the microphones on and watch Trump implode.
