Former President Donald Trump showed up for a traditional political debate Tuesday night, but he instead found himself in the middle of a 90-minute ambush to boost Kamala Harris.
Working as a team, ABC hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis propped up Harris and repeatedly tried to vanquish Trump by talking over him, cutting him off, and asking bizarre questions they did not ask Harris. At one point, Davis jumped in for Harris and offered a rebuttal to one of Trump’s comments on abortion, a move beyond the scope of a moderator.
They allowed Harris more time to respond and followed her when she veered off topic, but gave Trump no such breaks. It was not a debate, but a campaign contribution. That’s not a big surprise from either moderator, as Muir hosts the most Trump-negative network news evening broadcast and Davis has a long track record of promoting Democrat talking points including stolen election claims from Hillary Clinton.
The moderators wasted time rehashing the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol and pressed Trump on whether he really believes he won the 2020 election, at times putting words in his mouth. They barely touched on the economy, a top voter issue, and not once did the moderators acknowledge the attempted assassination of Trump. Nor did they question Harris about the lax security the Biden-Harris administration provided for Trump on the campaign trail that contributed to the shooting.
In broadcasting, where advertising is sold by the second, time really is
