Cruz urges Trump to accept ‘stupid rules’ from Harris for debate

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently made a strong appeal to former President Trump, encouraging him to agree to any proposed rule changes from Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for the upcoming ABC News debate. Cruz emphasized that it was crucial for the debate to occur.

During a Monday night interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Cruz responded to Hannity’s viewpoint that Trump should resist any demands from Harris regarding modifications to the debate terms scheduled for September 10. Both Cruz and Hannity expressed concern over potential bias from ABC News against the Republican nominee, but Cruz firmly stated that Trump should participate in the debate regardless of any challenges.

Cruz asserted, “Sean, I think Trump needs to do the debate. And frankly, I think he should agree to whatever stupid rules they want. It’s going to be hostile and rigged regardless.”

He further commented on Harris’s motives, suggesting that her campaign is looking for an opportunity to evade the debate. “Kamala wants to pick this fight to have an excuse to get out of the debate. Don’t let her out of the debate,” he said. “We need her there, because without a debate, her campaign will never answer a single question between now and Election Day. That’s their only hope of winning: focusing on joy and hopey, changey stuff and not her disastrous record.”

There has been much speculation recently about whether the ABC News presidential debate is set to proceed as planned, especially as the candidates’ campaigns argue over the rules regarding microphone muting. These rules were initially agreed upon when President Biden was the leading candidate for the Democrats, but discussions have shifted since the performance at his first debate, which some analysts believe was negatively affected by the muted mics.

Cruz highlighted the ongoing conflict, noting that Harris’s campaign is now advocating for unmuted microphones during the debate. On the other hand, Trump conveyed that the microphone issue did not significantly concern him; however, he expressed skepticism about whether he would participate and criticized ABC News.

Despite Hannity’s suggestion that Trump could argue that the rules were already established—that Harris must either accept the debate conditions or decline to participate—Cruz maintained his stance. “Don’t you think she ends up looking bad on that?” Hannity queried.

Cruz responded, “Yeah, but you know what? I think she’d be happy to walk away from that,” reiterating his advice for Trump to allow the Harris campaign to “come up with whatever stupid rules you want.”

He added, “If you want her to wear a cheese head while she’s debating, you want the mics hot or not, you want her to have an encyclopedia of talking points in front of her, I don’t care.” Cruz emphasized the importance of direct confrontation during the debate, stating, “I want to stand up directly and contrast her record and mine, because on every front, Donald Trump’s record saw success in this country.”

The Hill has reached out to both the Harris and Trump campaigns, as well as to ABC News, for comments concerning the debate arrangements.

Source: The Hill