GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is preparing to face Vice President Kamala Harris in a highly anticipated debate on Sept. 10 on ABC News. But the former president has at least one more request after changing his mind about the rules and regulations of the event.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced that “no boxes or artificial lifts” will be allowed during the debate, equating the use of the height-enhancing devices to “cheating.”
“There will be no boxes or artificial lifts during my upcoming debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,” he wrote Saturday. “We have discussed this before with former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg when he was in a debate, and he was not allowed to 'lift'. That would be cheating.”
He added: “And the Democrats cheat enough. 'You are who you are,' it was decided!”
In 2016, during his debates with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Trump — who is reportedly somewhere between 6' and 6'3 tall — appeared to be taller than Clinton's reported height of 5'7. During their second debate in particular, the former president's habit of remaining in the background while Clinton spoke was parodied on SNL — with Alec Baldwin as Trump and Kate McKinnon as Clinton.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 9, 2016.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
Harris, who is reportedly 5 feet 4 inches tall, also had her own requests for the big day. After agreeing to the debate rules, her campaign told ABC in a letter that she would be “disadvantaged” by the network’s plan to mute candidates’ microphones when it’s not their turn to speak.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President,” the statement said. “We suspect this is the primary reason his campaign is pushing for muted microphones.”
A source told CNN that at one point during the debate, ABC turned on the microphones so the audience could hear some of the candidates' reactions.
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