Did Kamala Harris cave? Or did no one know what she wanted to do in the first place?

After 24 hours of complaining about the terms of an agreement that they initially demanded Donald Trump keep, Team Harris has agreed to stick to the agreement themselves. Trump announced on Truth Social that the two candidates will still meet on September 10 on ABC, using the rules in place in the debate between Trump and Joe Biden:

I have reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris. It will be Broadcast Live on ABC FAKE NEWS, by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business, on Tuesday, September 10th, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Rules will be the same as the last CNN Debate, which seemed to work out well for everyone except, perhaps, Crooked Joe Biden. The Debate will be “stand up,” and Candidates cannot bring notes, or “cheat sheets.” 

As I wrote yesterday in the comments, the demand for "notes" by Harris' campaign almost certainly referred to paper and pens for the candidates to take notes, not to bring them to the podiums. That could be a helpful tool for a debate participant who has difficulty in organizing an extemporaneous response in real time. That certainly applies to Harris, who struggles to avoid "word salads," and wouldn't do anything for a stream-of-consciousness speaker like Trump.

So yesterday's tantrum from Harris turned out to be a nothingburger ... or at least it does unless Harris' campaign contradicts it. But what about the microphones? Trump mentions the notes and no chairs specifically but doesn't address the main demand to leave the mics on from Team Harris. However, Trump does declare that "The Rules will be the same as the last CNN Debate," which certainly implies that the mics will get turned off when the other participant speaks. Trump may have cared more about the notes than the mics, and he suggested the same thing in yesterday's response to Harris' demand for rule changes:

Trump just now on the muted mics during the debate:

“We agreed to the same rules. I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn't like it the last… pic.twitter.com/yY0smQjrkK

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 26, 2024

“We agreed to the same rules. I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on, but the agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted. I didn't like it the last time, but it worked out fine. I mean, ask Biden how it worked out. It was fine, and I think it should be the same. We agreed to the same rules, same rules, and same specifications, and I think that's probably what it should be, but they're trying to change it. The truth is they're trying to get out of it because she doesn't want to debate. She's not a good debater. She's not a smart person. She doesn't want to debate.”

Speculation yesterday ran high that Harris and her team wanted to set Trump up for a pushback on interruptions via hot mics, just as they did four years ago with Mike Pence. The trouble with that strategy is, of course, that Trump isn't Mike Pence and won't give a damn. Maybe Harris' team figured that out belatedly, too. 

It also appears that Team Kamala wasn't the only party to this agreement that had to offer assurances of fair play. ABC News also did some re-negotiating too:

We have also been given assurance by ABC that this will be a “fair and equitable” Debate, and that neither side will be given the questions in advance (No Donna Brazile!). Harris would not agree to the FoxNews Debate on September 4th, but that date will be held open in case she changes her mind or, Flip Flops, as she has done on every single one of her long held and cherished policy beliefs. A possible third Debate, which would go to NBC FAKE NEWS, has not been agreed to by the Radical Left. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

So what caused Team Kamala to reverse its reversal? Even for Harris, the speed of the flip-flop was remarkable. Perhaps Trump's dig at her intellect and heart made them mad, which kind of makes Trump into Admiral Kirk in this exchange (at 1:40-ish):

KAAAAAAAAAAM!

At any rate, this round goes to Trump. That lack of commitment to the bit doesn't bode well for Harris in the debate either. 

Update: CNN confirms the cave:

The latest on the mics: The rules for the debate will largely mirror the terms used by CNN for its June debate, including that microphones will be muted as the other candidate speaks and no studio audience will be present, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. 

Maybe someone from Team Kamala can explain the purpose of the last 24 hours, because ... this makes her look pretty damned silly.