The Commission on Presidential Debates will announce a change to the rules for Thursday night’s final debate, and it’s sure to anger President Donald Trump. The Commission will allow the candidates’ microphones to be muted while their opponent is speaking, which is one of the reasons Trump gave for pulling out of last week’s virtual debate.
“As in the first debate, each candidate will be allotted two minutes of speaking time to initially answer the moderator’s questions,” The New York Times reports. “But under a plan being finalized by the commission on Monday, his opponent’s microphone would be turned off during that period, an attempt to ensure an uninterrupted response.”
Explaining why participating in a virtual debate would be “a waste of time” for him, Trump last week specifically said one of the reasons he wouldn’t is because moderators could “cut you off,” meaning cut his microphone off.
Trump has yet to react to the change in the rules.