Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democrat counterpart Kamala Harris will participate in the crucial US Presidential debate being hosted by ABC Networks globally. The presidential debate comes exactly 8 weeks ahead of election day across the United States.

The US presidential debate may prove to be a game-changing moment for either candidate with the most recent polls showing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump neck-and-neck in the high-stakes battle for the top post.

The debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be their first, and most-likely, only debate. The clash could prove pivotal for either participant in the pitched battle for the White House.

Tens of millions of views in the United States and several million more across the world will tune in to the debate at 9 pm Eastern Time or ET (01:00 am GMT, 06:30 am IST).

The significance of the debate and its timing can be ascertained from the fact that early voting will begin in quite a few states just days after the televised debate. The battle is so intense that even a small faux pas could result in a major swing in either direction.

The encounter is particularly crucial for Kamala Harris as latest opinion polls have suggested that more than a quarter of likely voters across the United States feel they do not yet know enough about the Vice President, in contrast to former President Donald Trump.

THE BATTLE

The globally televised debate offers Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, the chance to make her case and corner Donald Trump, whose felony convictions, outspoken backing for supporters convicted of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and frequent falsehoods all offer plenty of fertile ground.

In the last few weeks, Donald Trump has also indulged in personal attacks on Kamala Harris, included racist and sexist insults.

Kamala Harris, 59, who enjoys a significant advantage among women voters according to the most recent polls, is expected to press Donald Trump on reproductive rights after he made a number of seemingly contradictory comments recently on abortion rights.

Donald Trump, 78, will meanwhile try to corner Kamala Harris, the current vice-president on issues like the economy, immigration, and inflation.

The ABC News debate is scheduled to last for 90 minutes and will be held without an audience. There are also some established rules for the debate.

THE CANDIDATES, THE PREPARATION

Kamala Harris is America’s first female, Black and Indian-American Vice President. Ms Harris arrived in Philadelphia a day before the debate after isolating in a hotel in Pittsburgh for five days amid intense practice sessions.

Donald Trump’s team has claimed that he has taken a more relaxed approach ahead of his seventh presidential debate, choosing to arrive in Philadelphia just hours before and keeping his preparations limited.

The debate will certainly see a contrast in styles of both candidates, but is likely to be a quiet one with the rules stating that the two candidates’ microphones will be muted when they are not speaking. This was done on the Trump team’s request.

While Donald Trump has been part of six previous Presidential debates, this would be the first one for Kamala Harris.

The 90-minute debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
 

Washington:

Mass expulsions? Political revenge? World peace? A new golden age? As Donald Trump vies for another term in the White House, the country is abuzz with speculation over how life might look with the ex-president back at the helm.

Here are Trump’s plans for the United States and the world, in five emblematic measures.

Mass deportations

Vice President Kamala Harris’s rival in November’s election has pledged to launch the biggest deportation operation of illegal migrants in US history on his first day in office.

“We’re going to get them out as fast as we can,” he has said, accusing undocumented migrants of “poisoning the blood of our country.”

The 78-year-old, known for his unfinished US-Mexico border wall project, has said he would be happy to “use the military” as part of the effort and would open detention camps to process targets for expulsion.

“On day one of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship,” he said in a campaign video.

He has confirmed he also plans to reinstate his ban on entries from several Muslim-majority countries, as a means of “keeping terrorists the hell out of our country.”

‘Drill, baby, drill!’

Trump slammed the door on the 2015 Paris climate accords during his first term, and his campaign has said he intends to end US participation again if reelected.

He told supporters at a rally earlier in the summer that he would “stop Biden’s wasteful spending and rapidly terminate the green new scam” — a reference to the funding committed by his successor to mitigating climate change.

“I will repeal crooked Joe Biden’s insane electric vehicle mandate and we will ‘drill, baby, drill,'” Trump said in Wisconsin, using an old Republican slogan.

“Energy costs will come down very quickly,” he vowed. “In many cases we’ll be cutting your energy costs in half.”

Crypto-a-go-go

Trump has pledged to make the United States the “Bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world,” and to put tech billionaire and right-wing conspiracy theorist Elon Musk in charge of a wide-ranging audit of governmental waste.

Trump also envisages tariffs of “more than 10 percent” on all imports. US companies — and eventually their customers — pay for import tariffs, not the companies exporting the goods.

He insists that the revenue collected will finance a “middle class, upper class, lower class, business class big tax cut.”

Having waged a fierce trade war with China during his first term, he also plans to revoke the Asian giant’s “most favored nation” status, granted to promote trade.

Abortion ambiguity

Trump never misses an opportunity to point out that it is partly thanks to him — and his three conservative Supreme Court appointments — that abortion rights have been considerably weakened in the United States.

But he is more ambiguous about the future of access to reproductive health care.

Insisting it should be an issue for the individual states, the Republican has balked at pushing a nationwide abortion ban, a commitment that would win him support from the religious right.

“You must follow your heart on this issue but remember, you must also win elections,” he has said.

And he promised: “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”

Ukraine war ‘plan’

Trump has been saying for months he could end the war in Ukraine within “24 hours,” without explaining how.

Critics suggest his plan would involve pressuring Kyiv to cede territory illegally occupied by Russia in both 2014 and 2022.

“I have a very exacting plan how to stop Ukraine and Russia, And I have a certain idea — maybe not a plan, but an idea — for China,” he said in an interview.

“But I can’t give you those plans, because if I give you those plans, I’m not going to be able to use them, they’ll be very unsuccessful. You know, part of it’s surprise, right?”

Trump presented himself as an unconditional defender of Israel when the war with Hamas broke out. But he has since appeared more critical in his comments about the US ally’s military offensive in Gaza, saying: “I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington, United States:

A group of 10 retired top US military officials endorsed US Vice President Kamala Harris in a letter made public on Monday, saying she is the only presidential candidate fit to serve as the nation’s commander in chief and calling her Republican rival Donald Trump “a danger to our national security and democracy.”

The letter, signed by Retired General Larry Ellis and Retired Rear Admiral Michael Smith, among others, cited Trump’s comments disparaging members of the military and his own “chaotic approach” to Afghanistan ahead of the US withdrawal, including negotiating a deal with the Taliban that allowed 5,000 of the group’s fighters to return to the battlefield.

In contrast, they wrote, Kamala Harris “has demonstrated her ability to take on the most difficult national security challenges in the Situation Room and on the international stage,” from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific.

“Harris is the best – and only – presidential candidate in this race who is fit to serve as our commander in chief,” they wrote in the letter posted on X by Kamala Harris’ campaign.

The Democratic vice president and Trump, who is running for the third time after serving from 2017 to early 2021, face a tight race before the Nov. 5 election in an unprecedented contest in which the future of American democracy looms large.

The letter coincided with a new Kamala Harris campaign ad released before the two candidates’ Tuesday night debate featuring former Trump officials warning that a second Trump presidency would pose major risks. 

“In 2016 Donald Trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his White House. Now, those people have a warning for America. Trump is not fit to be president again, fears his vice president,” the ad says. It featured videos from Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, former Defense Secretary Mike Esper, former national security adviser John Bolton, and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. 

The letter also comes a day before House Speaker Mike Johnson hosts a congressional gold medal ceremony honoring the 13 service members killed in the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021. Trump and his fellow Republicans have tried to blame Kamala Harris for the Afghanistan pullout, with those in Congress issuing a report on Monday.

The retired military officials, in their letter, blamed Trump for “failing to take responsibility for his own role in putting service members in harm’s way,” noting his deal to free Taliban fighters without involving the Afghan government and for not leaving a withdrawal plan after he left office following his 2020 election loss.   

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Giani Singh (name changed), 45, drives a yellow taxi in New York. David Brooks, 63, a New Yorker at heart, is among the most cerebral columnists of The New York Times. They may find little in common should they meet currently but will find themselves agreeing on the most vexatious question in the US today: who will win the Presidential election in November.

Gianni wants Trump to win. Originally from Ludhiana, he came to the US as a teenager and did all he needed to survive, including two local marriages. He finally landed a US citizenship three years ago. Today, he owns six taxis, drives one himself for a bare six hours a day, and owns a house in Queens.

“Immigrants Commit Crimes”

He voted Trump in 2020 and will do so again. Trump, he says, kept prices down. “Today, with 8% interest, I don’t know how people live,” he told us last week. Trump will be hard on immigration (he threatens to deport an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants). “I know I am one and I have my own stories but, Sirjee, these immigrants commit lots of crimes. We see it daily in New York. ” And, finally, “Trump will be good for India”.

Brooks, a Republican, does not want Trump to win. But in a recent column, he clinically listed the “five turbines of Trumpism” which told his head differently.  

One, Americans favour dynamism over compassion. The fastest growing US states – Texas, Florida, Montana – are ruled by Republicans; the slowest and the stagnant by Democrats. “The red model gives you low housing costs, lower taxes and business vitality. The blue model gives you high housing costs, high taxes and high inequality.” Democrats want to expand the welfare state like in Europe. But voters tell pollsters that the economy and immigration are their top concerns and Republicans score better on handling those.

Democrats, The ‘Elite’ Clique

Two, in a reversal from recent history, Democrats have become the party of the college graduate elite and Republicans of the working class. “The biggest divide in the US today is the diploma divide,” Brooks has often written. One of his most perceptive recent columns was on how the educated elite in the US unwittingly conveys its contempt for the majority not with a college degree (“Deplorables,” Hillary Clinton infamously described Trump supporters in 2016). And the “deplorable” deeply resent that the Democrats are the party of the ruling class. 

Three, the less educated are in a funk because of growing social and moral immorality. As Brooks wrote: “The things that derail their lives are broken relationships, infidelity, out-of-wedlock births, addictions, family conflict and crime. When Republicans talk about immigration, crime, faith, family and the flag, they are talking about ways to preserve the social and moral order. Democrats are great at talking about economic solidarity, but not moral and cultural solidarity.”

Four, the general mood in the US is of distrust and dissatisfaction. According to Gallup and other pollsters, only 25% Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country; 60% feel the country is in decline and the “system is broken”; 69% agree that the “political and economic elite don’t care about hard-working people”, and 63% agree that “experts in this country don’t understand the lives of people like me”.

Trump Knows How To Harness Unhappiness

In this mood, people are disinclined to believe the Kamala Harris promise of a better life based on a more caring state. They believe that irrespective of the promises the elite make, in the end, it only adds to their growing power. And Trump knows better than any other populist how to harness this general dissatisfaction.

Five, Harris has been unlike Clinton and Obama, both of whom won two terms by sticking rigidly to the centrist median on major issues. They made sure they were never seen as a representative of the progressives in the Democratic party. Kamala Harris let her progressive side lean on the critical decision of the choice of the Vice-Presidential candidate. 

Pennsylvania is likely to be the most critical swing state in this election. Harris could have chosen its popular governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her election mate, but Shapiro was seen as a moderate and Harris showed “over-confidence”, says Brooks, in choosing a governor (Tim Walz) of a state she was winning anyway, Minnesota. 

This is, of course, prime time for election punditry in the US, and one of the reigning gurus in this field is Nate Silver, poker player extraordinaire, baseball-statistician-turned-poll-predictor best known for predicting Obama’s scale of victory in 2012 (332 electoral college votes out of 538) when it was widely seen as a close race and for naming the victor in all 50 US states. Silver too is leaning towards a Trump victory at this time, because of the electoral college advantage of the Republicans, which effectively gives the smaller of the seven swing states (like Wisconsin) disproportionate weightage in shaping the final verdict, even negating the popular vote.

What Harris Will Really Need

Hillary Clinton polled 65 million votes to Trump’s 62 million in 2016 but lost the electoral college vote by 227-304. This November too, it is not unlikely that the same fate visits Harris. According to Silver’s latest prediction, Harris would need to lead Trump in the popular vote by more than 3% to have a statistical chance of getting 270 electoral college votes. Harris had a dream five-week run between Biden opting out on July 21 and the Democratic National Convention but the bounce has slowed down. According to the latest Real Clear Politics Nationwide Polling Average, Harris is only 1.8% ahead of Trump in the popular vote. More importantly, she has only a 0.8 lead over Trump in the seven swing states.

Repeated polling has shown that the two most important issues for the electorate are the economy and immigration and Trump continues to lead Harris on those issues, despite ground realities. Bipartisan economists have proved that Trump’s plan to erect tariff walls on imports, with steep ones for Chinese imports, will raise prices and harm the poor. Trump stonewalled a bipartisan tough immigration in the Congress because it would have impaired his election rhetoric of deporting illegal immigrants, a plan that is logistically impossible and would wreck the economy. 

‘Unserious’ Trump

Trump is, as Harris famously labelled him, “unserious”; labelling him a narcissist is doing disservice to that word; he is a misogynist who has little support among young women;, everybody knows he does not have any values and beliefs except the most convenient ones, and the media knows he plays them because he craves publicity, positive or negative. And yet, because he is who he is, he can affirm contradictory beliefs and yet not lose any support. 

Abortion is one issue on which Harris has him on the run. The Supreme Court that overturned the constitutional right to abortion was put together by Trump. He has often crowed about the verdict, which has led to anti-abortion statutes in 22 states. One out of seven voters rate abortion as the third most important electoral issue. Seeing Harris’ growing lead on the issue which looms larger each day he has flip-flopped. One day he weighed against a Florida initiative to dramatically shorten the period for a legal abortion but seeing the pro-lifers’ blowback, promptly affirmed support for the initiative the next day. 

Media in the US has been replete recently with revelations that should have made MAGA followers wince.  A writer in The Atlantic profiled a key associate of Trump’s presidency, Kashyap (Kash) Patel, who jeopardised the life of US Seals on a rescue mission in Nigeria by faking a go-ahead by Nigerian authorities for USAF planes to enter Nigerian air space. When exposed, Patel shrugged off his breathtaking lie with “Nobody got injured so how does it matter?” Trump acknowledges Kash is somewhat crazy, but says, “You need crazies”. 

Nothing Matters For Trump Loyalists

The NYT carried a column on how the Federal Election Commission has little oversight on how the hundreds of millions of dollars ostensibly raised for Trump’s election campaign are actually used. The monies are sat over by Trump’s family, and it is a reasonable inference from the money trails that significant sums are diverted toward fighting his many legal cases. But for Trump bhakts, nothing matters. 

Allan Lichtman is a historian who has correctly called all recent elections, including 2016 and 2020, on a proprietary 13-point scale, weighted towards serious issues (like how the economy has done in the period between the two elections and how the US is perceived internationally), in which the character of the candidate matters only for two of the points. On that template, which also totally ignores election polls and surveys, Harris wins by scoring seven points.

‘Prosecutor’ Harris vs ‘Bully’ Trump

It would be fair to say that with less than 60 days to go, the election is too close to call. Much will depend on the debate on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning in India). This may sound unbelievable, but Trump and Harris have never formally met. Never. Ever. Their first face-to-face promises to be gladiatorial. Will Prosecutor Harris put Convicted Felon and Bully Trump in the dock? 

White men, 40% of the electorate, favour Trump overwhelmingly. Should Harris stand up to Trump, or dominate him, she could give the lie to Trump’s taunt that Putin and the like will chew up Harris. That could nudge the critical white male vote in not only Wisconsin (10 electoral college votes) but, perhaps, more importantly in Pennsylvania with 20 electoral college votes. 

(Ajay Kumar is a senior journalist. He is former Managing Editor, Business Standard, and former Executive Editor, The Economic Times.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Giani Singh (name changed), 45, drives a yellow taxi in New York. David Brooks, 63, a New Yorker at heart, is among the most cerebral columnists of The New York Times. They may find little in common should they meet currently but will find themselves agreeing on the most vexatious question in the US today: who will win the Presidential election in November.

Gianni wants Trump to win. Originally from Ludhiana, he came to the US as a teenager and did all he needed to survive, including two local marriages. He finally landed a US citizenship three years ago. Today, he owns six taxis, drives one himself for a bare six hours a day, and owns a house in Queens.

“Immigrants Commit Crimes”

He voted Trump in 2020 and will do so again. Trump, he says, kept prices down. “Today, with 8% interest, I don’t know how people live,” he told us last week. Trump will be hard on immigration (he threatens to deport an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants). “I know I am one and I have my own stories but, Sirjee, these immigrants commit lots of crimes. We see it daily in New York. ” And, finally, “Trump will be good for India”.

Brooks, a Republican, does not want Trump to win. But in a recent column, he clinically listed the “five turbines of Trumpism” which told his head differently.  

One, Americans favour dynamism over compassion. The fastest growing US states – Texas, Florida, Montana – are ruled by Republicans; the slowest and the stagnant by Democrats. “The red model gives you low housing costs, lower taxes and business vitality. The blue model gives you high housing costs, high taxes and high inequality.” Democrats want to expand the welfare state like in Europe. But voters tell pollsters that the economy and immigration are their top concerns and Republicans score better on handling those.

Democrats, The ‘Elite’ Clique

Two, in a reversal from recent history, Democrats have become the party of the college graduate elite and Republicans of the working class. “The biggest divide in the US today is the diploma divide,” Brooks has often written. One of his most perceptive recent columns was on how the educated elite in the US unwittingly conveys its contempt for the majority not with a college degree (“Deplorables,” Hillary Clinton infamously described Trump supporters in 2016). And the “deplorable” deeply resent that the Democrats are the party of the ruling class. 

Three, the less educated are in a funk because of growing social and moral immorality. As Brooks wrote: “The things that derail their lives are broken relationships, infidelity, out-of-wedlock births, addictions, family conflict and crime. When Republicans talk about immigration, crime, faith, family and the flag, they are talking about ways to preserve the social and moral order. Democrats are great at talking about economic solidarity, but not moral and cultural solidarity.”

Four, the general mood in the US is of distrust and dissatisfaction. According to Gallup and other pollsters, only 25% Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country; 60% feel the country is in decline and the “system is broken”; 69% agree that the “political and economic elite don’t care about hard-working people”, and 63% agree that “experts in this country don’t understand the lives of people like me”.

Trump Knows How To Harness Unhappiness

In this mood, people are disinclined to believe the Kamala Harris promise of a better life based on a more caring state. They believe that irrespective of the promises the elite make, in the end, it only adds to their growing power. And Trump knows better than any other populist how to harness this general dissatisfaction.

Five, Harris has been unlike Clinton and Obama, both of whom won two terms by sticking rigidly to the centrist median on major issues. They made sure they were never seen as a representative of the progressives in the Democratic party. Kamala Harris let her progressive side lean on the critical decision of the choice of the Vice-Presidential candidate. 

Pennsylvania is likely to be the most critical swing state in this election. Harris could have chosen its popular governor, Josh Shapiro, to be her election mate, but Shapiro was seen as a moderate and Harris showed “over-confidence”, says Brooks, in choosing a governor (Tim Walz) of a state she was winning anyway, Minnesota. 

This is, of course, prime time for election punditry in the US, and one of the reigning gurus in this field is Nate Silver, poker player extraordinaire, baseball-statistician-turned-poll-predictor best known for predicting Obama’s scale of victory in 2012 (332 electoral college votes out of 538) when it was widely seen as a close race and for naming the victor in all 50 US states. Silver too is leaning towards a Trump victory at this time, because of the electoral college advantage of the Republicans, which effectively gives the smaller of the seven swing states (like Wisconsin) disproportionate weightage in shaping the final verdict, even negating the popular vote.

What Harris Will Really Need

Hillary Clinton polled 65 million votes to Trump’s 62 million in 2016 but lost the electoral college vote by 227-304. This November too, it is not unlikely that the same fate visits Harris. According to Silver’s latest prediction, Harris would need to lead Trump in the popular vote by more than 3% to have a statistical chance of getting 270 electoral college votes. Harris had a dream five-week run between Biden opting out on July 21 and the Democratic National Convention but the bounce has slowed down. According to the latest Real Clear Politics Nationwide Polling Average, Harris is only 1.8% ahead of Trump in the popular vote. More importantly, she has only a 0.8 lead over Trump in the seven swing states.

Repeated polling has shown that the two most important issues for the electorate are the economy and immigration and Trump continues to lead Harris on those issues, despite ground realities. Bipartisan economists have proved that Trump’s plan to erect tariff walls on imports, with steep ones for Chinese imports, will raise prices and harm the poor. Trump stonewalled a bipartisan tough immigration in the Congress because it would have impaired his election rhetoric of deporting illegal immigrants, a plan that is logistically impossible and would wreck the economy. 

‘Unserious’ Trump

Trump is, as Harris famously labelled him, “unserious”; labelling him a narcissist is doing disservice to that word; he is a misogynist who has little support among young women;, everybody knows he does not have any values and beliefs except the most convenient ones, and the media knows he plays them because he craves publicity, positive or negative. And yet, because he is who he is, he can affirm contradictory beliefs and yet not lose any support. 

Abortion is one issue on which Harris has him on the run. The Supreme Court that overturned the constitutional right to abortion was put together by Trump. He has often crowed about the verdict, which has led to anti-abortion statutes in 22 states. One out of seven voters rate abortion as the third most important electoral issue. Seeing Harris’ growing lead on the issue which looms larger each day he has flip-flopped. One day he weighed against a Florida initiative to dramatically shorten the period for a legal abortion but seeing the pro-lifers’ blowback, promptly affirmed support for the initiative the next day. 

Media in the US has been replete recently with revelations that should have made MAGA followers wince.  A writer in The Atlantic profiled a key associate of Trump’s presidency, Kashyap (Kash) Patel, who jeopardised the life of US Seals on a rescue mission in Nigeria by faking a go-ahead by Nigerian authorities for USAF planes to enter Nigerian air space. When exposed, Patel shrugged off his breathtaking lie with “Nobody got injured so how does it matter?” Trump acknowledges Kash is somewhat crazy, but says, “You need crazies”. 

Nothing Matters For Trump Loyalists

The NYT carried a column on how the Federal Election Commission has little oversight on how the hundreds of millions of dollars ostensibly raised for Trump’s election campaign are actually used. The monies are sat over by Trump’s family, and it is a reasonable inference from the money trails that significant sums are diverted toward fighting his many legal cases. But for Trump bhakts, nothing matters. 

Allan Lichtman is a historian who has correctly called all recent elections, including 2016 and 2020, on a proprietary 13-point scale, weighted towards serious issues (like how the economy has done in the period between the two elections and how the US is perceived internationally), in which the character of the candidate matters only for two of the points. On that template, which also totally ignores election polls and surveys, Harris wins by scoring seven points.

‘Prosecutor’ Harris vs ‘Bully’ Trump

It would be fair to say that with less than 60 days to go, the election is too close to call. Much will depend on the debate on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning in India). This may sound unbelievable, but Trump and Harris have never formally met. Never. Ever. Their first face-to-face promises to be gladiatorial. Will Prosecutor Harris put Convicted Felon and Bully Trump in the dock? 

White men, 40% of the electorate, favour Trump overwhelmingly. Should Harris stand up to Trump, or dominate him, she could give the lie to Trump’s taunt that Putin and the like will chew up Harris. That could nudge the critical white male vote in not only Wisconsin (10 electoral college votes) but, perhaps, more importantly in Pennsylvania with 20 electoral college votes. 

(Ajay Kumar is a senior journalist. He is former Managing Editor, Business Standard, and former Executive Editor, The Economic Times.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Washington:

US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump will face off in a debate for the first time on Tuesday, each seeking an edge in what has become a neck-and-neck race for the White House.

After weeks of back-and-forth on the where, when and how of the debate, US broadcaster ABC — which is hosting the event — announced the final rules of the contest, as agreed to by the two campaigns, this week.

Here are the major takeaways.

 When and where?

The debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia at 9:00 pm local time Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday,) and will be aired live. There will be no audience present in the room.

The event will be moderated by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, and will run for 90 minutes of debate time, with two commercial breaks. 

 Muted mics?

The issue of whether microphones would be muted — as they were during a previous debate between US President Joe Biden and Trump — was a contentious one, with each side accusing the other of cowardice over the question.

ABC has announced that each candidate’s microphone will only be live for when it is their turn to speak, and muted when the time belongs to the other candidate. 

Only moderators will be allowed to ask questions, and no topics or questions will be shared in advance with the candidates. 

Who speaks when?

Candidates will not offer opening statements. They will be allotted two minutes to answer each question, with two minutes granted to their opponent for a rebuttal. 

There will be an additional minute for “a follow-up, clarification, or response,” according to the rules. 

At the end of the debate, each candidate will offer a two-minute closing statement, with Trump to go last, as per the results of a virtual coin toss.

No props

Candidates will stand behind podiums through the entire length of the debate, with no props or pre-written notes allowed. 

Trump and Harris will each be given a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water.

Campaign staff will not be allowed to speak or interact with the candidates during the commercial breaks. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sydney:

Within minutes of the conclusion of this week’s presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, it became clear to many that the 81-year-old Biden may not be capable of winning the general election in November.

His inability to clearly communicate during the 90-minute debate earned harsh criticism from across the US political spectrum, most notably among Democrats.

Van Jones, a former official in the Obama administration and CNN analyst, said about Biden:

He had a test to meet tonight to restore confidence in the country and of the base, and he failed to do that.

We’re still far from our convention. And there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward.

Biden did land a few blows on his predecessor over Trump’s various personal indiscretions and the January 6 2021 insurrection on the US Capitol, saying at one point, “you’ve got the morals of an alley cat”.

But it was not enough to persuade many sceptics that Biden is capable of fighting off the Trump campaign, not to mention performing the duties of US commander-in-chief and the hardest job in the world for another four years.

If polls over the weekend show Biden is losing support after his dreadful debate performance, which seems highly likely, the move to replace him as the Democrats’ candidate will become even more intense and, ultimately, irresistible.

How would this play out in the next few weeks?

Persuading Biden to step aside

Even with the withering criticism from his party, Biden remains in control of his fate. He won 99% of the pledged delegates in the Democratic primary process earlier this year, meaning he is entitled to the nomination. As a result, any decision to move to a different candidate starts with Biden himself.

Absent dramatic health news or his removal under the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which allows for such action by the vice president and a majority of his cabinet if the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”, Biden would have to agree to step down as the party’s nominee.

We should be realistic here: Biden is a very stubborn man. You don’t get to be the president of the United States without being enormously self-confident. Biden may not be the smartest or most talented politician, but he is dogged and relentless in his ambitions.

He ran for president twice before his success in 2020. He didn’t let a brain aneurysm, plagiarism charges, familial dramas or personal tragedy stop him seeking the highest office in the land. The day after the debate with Trump, he shook his fist at a campaign event in North Carolina and asserted, “When you get knocked down, you get back up”.

Persuading Biden to step down would require collaboration with his wife, First Lady Jill Biden. “Dr Jill”, as she is known, has taken a hands-on role in managing the president’s daily life and public appearances.

There are very few Democratic Party elders who can be influential with the Bidens. The list probably starts and stops with former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If those two go to the first lady and forcefully urge Biden’s withdrawal, it could be very difficult to resist.

How could Biden save face?

If Biden withdraws from the race before the Democratic convention in mid-August, his delegates could then vote for a new nominee at the event. Potential nominees include Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Notably, except for Harris, none of these candidates has been vetted publicly during the Democratic primary process for the world’s most scrutinised job.

If Biden were to withdraw from the race after the convention, a special meeting of the members of the Democratic National Committee would decide on the new nominee. This committee includes around 500 leading party members from all US states and territories. (Whitmer is one of three vice chairs.)

A question senior Biden confidants might be asking themselves is, which scenario offers Biden a more graceful and successful exit?

He may want to anoint a successor and he would want to choose the method that offers him the most control. That may be the convention route, where he at least can claim the allegiance of his primary delegates.

This would require an announcement in the next few weeks. The sooner the better, so as to build as much public support as possible for a new nominee. Biden could salvage a significant amount of his reputation if his handpicked successor then defeated Trump in November.

Things look grim for Democrats right now, but in the long run, they may be in a strong position. Trump is very unpopular with most Americans. The 2021 insurrection remains a massive stain on his legacy. His vote ceiling among probable voters in November is still likely below 50%.

Veteran Obama strategist David Axelrod warned Republicans after the debate:

If, for whatever reason, there’s a change at the top of the ticket, you guys are in trouble with Donald Trump. Because the guy who was up there tonight is not a guy who’s going to inspire people.

A tough and nimble Democratic candidate who can communicate clearly could be very successful in November.

(Author:Lester Munson, Non-Resident Fellow, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney)

(Disclosure Statement:Lester Munson receives funding from the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is affiliated with BGR Group, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm and is a former Republican official in the George W. Bush administration and on Capitol Hill)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US Vice President Kamala Harris took on a new role Friday fighting gun violence, a job likely to give her more visibility ahead of the 2024 election. The 58-year-old Democrat will head up the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which will provide coordination on the issue but largely lacks any kind of enforceable power to tackle the scourge in a country that has more firearms than people. 

“We know true freedom is not possible if people are not safe,” Harris said in a statement announcing the new office. 

“We do not have a moment to spare nor a life to spare” while the United States is “torn apart” by gun violence, she said at the White House on Friday. 

“After every mass shooting, we hear a simple message, the same message all over the country,” she added, saying Americans are begging for their leaders to “‘do something, please do something.'”

Despite the new push, the White House does not have unilateral power to meaningfully limit gun use in the United States, such as by banning assault weapons. 

Any substantial moves would have to come from Congress, where fiercely anti-gun regulation Republicans control the House of Representatives. 

Biden has therefore tried to work around legislative requirements and imposed certain regulatory and administrative restrictions, which have only a limited scope. 

The new role adds a significant job to Harris’s portfolio just a little over a year ahead of the 2024 race, in which she and the 80-year-old president are facing re-election. 

The vice president has already been tasked with handling other politically sensitive issues such as immigration. 

Tackling gun violence gives the former California prosecutor the chance to work on a visible issue that often garners more widespread consensus from the American public. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-governmental organization, 44,374 people were killed by guns across the United States last year.

Gun deaths have slowed slightly this year, at 28,793 for the first eight months, according to the archive.

Harris — the first woman to become vice president as well as the first Black person and person of South Asian descent to hold the job — also recently embarked on the so-called Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour, in which she visited several US universities. 

She was generally received with enthusiasm, in contrast to her often-flagging favorability poll numbers. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)