The talk concerning the debate is over. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will share a stage for the primary time in Philadelphia subsequent week, within the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania. They’ll have their mics muted once they’re not speaking—as the previous president’s marketing campaign had most well-liked, evidently out of concern he would possibly get goaded into an outburst in any other case. However inside hours of the campaigns agreeing to ABC Information’ debate guidelines, Trump was however carping on about how unfair Tuesday’s bout could be in opposition to him.
“They’re essentially the most dishonest community,” Trump stated of ABC Information, in a taped sit-down with Fox Information’ Sean Hannity Wednesday, baselessly suggesting that Harris could be supplied questions upfront and mocking anchor George Stephanopoulos with considered one of his pet names—“George Slopadopoulos”—to the delight of his viewers. “They’re very nasty. I feel lots of people are going to be watching to see how nasty they’re.”
The talk—which will probably be moderated not by Stephanopoulos however by David Muir and Linsey Davis—carries extraordinarily excessive stakes: Trump expanded his polling lead following the primary debate this cycle, after Joe Biden’s weak efficiency turbocharged considerations about his age and acuity. However the race flipped after Harris took over the Democratic ticket, and the upcoming debate presents her with a chance to proceed her momentum. Talking to Hannity, Trump as soon as once more attacked her intelligence—“She has no thought what the hell she’s doing,” he claimed—however insisted that the community is biased in her favor. “ABC is the worst community by way of equity,” Trump stated.
Trump—as he did in June and loads of occasions earlier than—is searching for to decrease expectations for himself, to make it simpler to dismiss a foul efficiency as the results of the entire thing being rigged in opposition to him. It’s possible you’ll recall this technique from 2020, when he tried to sow doubt within the election course of forward of his eventual loss to Biden—and sought to undermine the outcomes afterward slightly than admit defeat. It’s the identical blueprint he’s utilizing now, as he lays the muse to problem the outcomes of this fall’s election.
“The elections are dishonest as hell,” he’s told his supporters.
That is, partially, about one chronically insecure man’s efforts to save lots of face in any respect prices. However it is usually a part of his broader undertaking of eroding religion within the election course of and democratic establishments, which he as soon as once more displayed contempt for Wednesday evening as he as soon as once more lavished reward on the intolerant Hungarian chief Viktor Orban. “Typically,” he instructed Hannity, “you want a strongman.”
