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    Trump Questions Fairness of Next Week’s Debate at a Town Hall

    Hours after the Trump and Harris campaigns agreed to rules for their first presidential debate, former President Donald J. Trump sought to instill doubt that the debate would be fair, downplayed his need to prepare and suggested he was more worried about the network hosting the debate than his opponent.Speaking at a Fox News town hall on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump insisted that ABC News, which will host next week’s debate in Philadelphia, was “dishonest,” even though he agreed months ago to allow the network to host a presidential debate.Pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris’s longtime friendship with a senior executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, Mr. Trump insisted without evidence that Ms. Harris was “going to get the questions in advance.” The network released agreed-upon rules that no topics or questions would be provided to either candidate or campaign.Mr. Trump’s attempts to question the integrity of the debate echoed a similar effort that preceded his consequential debate in June with President Biden that set off the president’s exit from the race. After taunting Mr. Biden into debating “anytime, anywhere, anyplace,” Mr. Trump sought to play down any potential political consequences as the debate neared by casting the network, moderators and rules as biased.“Beyond the debate rules published today, which were mutually agreed upon by two campaigns on May 15th, we have made no other agreements,” an ABC News spokeswoman said on Wednesday night. “We look forward to moderating the presidential debate next Tuesday.”Yet even as he suggested the debate next week would be biased against him, Mr. Trump also tried to present himself as unconcerned about his first head-to-head confrontation with Ms. Harris since she became the Democratic nominee. He insisted that planning would only get him so far and that he would take a similar approach to Ms. Harris that he did to Mr. Biden.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Harris, Trump and Biden Consider World Trade Center Site Visits on Sept. 11

    Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are considering visits to the World Trade Center site in New York City on Sept. 11 to memorialize the 2001 attacks.Ms. Harris is planning to travel to New York City after the presidential debate, scheduled for Sept. 10 in Philadelphia, according to three people directly familiar with her schedule who were not authorized to discuss the plans.Mr. Biden, who last year marked the anniversary of the attacks on a military base in Alaska as he traveled back from a diplomatic trip in Asia, is discussing his own plans to attend ground zero, two of those people said. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.And Mr. Trump, who built much of his political brand in the divisive aftermath of the attacks and on anger within the Republican Party about the Middle East wars that followed, is also considering visiting ground zero, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.The annual ceremony at the site has been a somber scene that has drawn mourners and also its fair share of politicians who have held office or are running for it. The vice president visited ground zero last year alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul, Democrat of New York, several former mayors and Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, who was running for his party’s nomination for the presidency at the time.Hillary Clinton, who was the junior senator from New York when the 2001 attacks occurred, attended the memorial ceremony in 2016, when she was running for president. She fell ill as she was leaving, and was later treated for pneumonia. Mr. Trump also went to the ceremony that year, attending as he ran for office for the first time.Mr. Trump, the only native New Yorker of the group, did not make a return visit to the site in 2021, the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Mr. Biden visited all three attack sites that year and Ms. Harris spoke at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pa.The anniversary that year came nine months after Mr. Trump’s term in the White House ended, following an attack by a mob of his supporters on the U.S. Capitol to try to thwart certification of Mr. Biden’s victory. Mr. Trump spent part of that anniversary in New York, visiting fire and police station houses, before returning to his adopted home state of Florida for a paid event providing color commentary for a boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort.Mr. Trump has a long history of making questionable and provocative statements about what he saw on the day of the attacks.This year, the anniversary of the attacks will come just hours after a presidential debate between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump, who have not yet met in person but whose campaigns are engaged in a brawl ahead of what is forecast to be a close election. More

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    Trump debería tener mucho miedo de debatir con Kamala Harris

    Es fácil encontrar ejemplos de respuestas vacuas y engañosamente reflexivas que rozan lo caricaturesco de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris, y es sencillo concluir que esa mezcolanza retórica es lo que ha postergado encuentros con periodistas serios, porque no es ágil en situaciones sin un guion o desenvuelta con los datos necesarios. En todo caso, esos son los argumentos de los republicanos.Pero esa valoración ignora su actuación en un debate en 2020 con el vicepresidente de entonces, Mike Pence. ¿Lo recuerdan? Fue un encuentro con mucho en juego y tan arriesgado como cualquier entrevista con cualquier peso pesado de los medios, y ella lo hizo bien. Mejor que bien, de hecho. Varias encuestas posteriores al debate, entre ellas una publicada por 538 y otra por CNN, concluyeron que Harris había ganado. Es cierto que Pence se enfrentaba a la decisión de una mosca de posarse sobre su cabeza, pero aun así. Él llevaba más tiempo en la escena política nacional que ella, y ella no vaciló.Por eso, las recientes quejas y amenazas de Donald Trump de retirarse del debate previsto en ABC News el 10 de septiembre tienen todo el sentido. Debería tener dudas. De hecho, debería tener miedo.A pesar de todas sus fanfarronadas absurdas sobre sus anteriores actuaciones en debates, muchas de ellas han sido risibles: una combinación de burlas pueriles, mentiras sin paralelo, quejas, explosiones, desprecio y regodeo. ¿Se acuerdan de esos bailes caricaturescos que hacen los jugadores de fútbol cuando han llegado a la zona de anotación en el último cuarto de un partido reñido? Ese es Trump en el atril del debate, solo que no ha marcado ni un touchdown. Ni siquiera ha movido el balón ni un milímetro.Me refiero a sus trucos con sus rivales por la nominación presidencial republicana en 2016, en tres encuentros con Hillary Clinton en las elecciones generales de ese año y en dos con Joe Biden en las elecciones generales de 2020. (Se saltó los debates de las primarias republicanas de 2024, sabiamente, dada su ventaja sobre los demás aspirantes).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump y el equipo de Harris aún discuten las reglas del debate

    Los dos han estado discutiendo sobre si los micrófonos serán silenciados cuando un candidato no está hablando durante el debate, que está programado para el 10 de septiembre.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Donald Trump anunció por segunda vez que participaría en un debate presidencial con la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris organizado por ABC News e insinuó que se había resuelto el tema de si los micrófonos se silenciarán cuando un candidato no esté hablando.Pero una persona informada sobre la postura de la campaña de Harris dijo que el tema de si los micrófonos serán silenciados —algo que el equipo de Trump favorece y el equipo de Harris no— sigue siendo una discusión abierta. Un portavoz de ABC declinó hacer comentarios.Trump escribió en su red social que las reglas del debate “serán las mismas que en el último debate de CNN, que pareció funcionar bien para todos excepto, quizás”, para el presidente Joe Biden.El debate organizado por CNN, que se celebró en Atlanta el 27 de junio, fue calamitoso para Biden, precipitando su decisión del 21 de julio cuando finalizó su campaña de reelección. Durante ese debate, los micrófonos de los candidatos se silenciaron cuando no estaban hablando, una medida impulsada por el equipo de Biden.En última instancia, los asesores de Trump lo consideraron beneficioso para él, ya que evitó que el expresidente tuviera el tipo de arrebatos frecuentes y dañinos a los que es propenso. En su lugar, la atención se centró en Biden y sus luchas para articular sus pensamientos.Politico informó el lunes que el equipo de Harris y Trump habían llegado a un punto muerto sobre si los micrófonos se silenciarán para el debate del 10 de septiembre, que tendrá lugar en Filadelfia.El equipo de Trump acusó al equipo de Harris de engaño. Sin embargo, el propio Trump, en una comparecencia el lunes en Virginia, dijo que personalmente no le importaba.“No me importa”, dijo. “Creo que preferiría tenerlo encendido. Pero el acuerdo era que sería igual que la última vez”.Ammar Moussa, vocero de Harris, dijo en un comunicado que “ambos candidatos han dejado clara su voluntad de debatir con micrófonos no silenciados durante todo el debate para permitir intercambios sustantivos entre los candidatos, pero parece que Donald Trump está dejando que sus manipuladores lo anulen. Es triste”.El debate del 10 de septiembre se acordó por primera vez cuando Biden aún estaba en la contienda. El equipo de Harris planeó mantenerlo, pero Trump vaciló, y luego anunció en una conferencia de prensa hace unas tres semanas que estaría allí. Luego, el domingo, planteó la posibilidad de no asistir después de todo, alegando que ABC estaba sesgada en su contra. El equipo de Harris insistió públicamente el lunes en el tema de los micrófonos.Maggie Haberman es corresponsal política sénior que cubre la campaña presidencial de 2024, desde las contiendas electorales en todo el país hasta las investigaciones sobre el expresidente Donald Trump. Más de Maggie HabermanJohn Koblin reporta sobre la industria televisiva. Es coautor de It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO.” Más de John Koblin More

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    Harris and Trump Squabble Over Debate Rules as ABC Matchup Looms

    At the weigh-in before a big bout, prizefighters often taunt their opponents in an effort to try to psych them out.So it goes with the presidential pugilists set to meet next month in the city of Rocky Balboa.The Harris and Trump campaigns squabbled on Monday over the ground rules of their coming ABC News debate in Philadelphia, with each side trying to score political points off the other.The tussle began on Sunday when former President Donald J. Trump blasted ABC in a social media post, suggesting that the network’s anchors and executives were biased against him and threatening, not for the first time, to pull out of the event. “I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Mr. Trump wrote.Then, on Monday, Ms. Harris’s campaign went public with an effort to change one of the agreed-upon conditions for the debate: that each candidate’s microphone be muted when it isn’t their turn to speak.“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, told Politico.He added a dig for good measure: “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Tim Walz and the Pull of Rural America

    More from our inbox:A Rattled Donald TrumpCancer Screenings Save Lives and Are Worth the CostFrom Rust to Rescue HeroAn Olympic Transit Reality Check Abbie Parr/Associated PressTo the Editor:Re “Democrats Have Needed Someone Like Walz for Decades,” by Sarah Smarsh (Opinion guest essay, Aug. 9):Thank you for publishing Ms. Smarsh’s article, which so eloquently and succinctly illustrates how politicians, pundits and journalists have marginalized rural America by lumping us into a single category: red state.I am from a long line of early Indiana settlers: hard-working people who began as farmers and maintained honest lives while supporting democratic ideals and the Democratic Party. Reading this piece is a breath of fresh air, and I appreciate that Ms. Smarsh shares our appreciation for the honesty and direct communication of a fine person like Tim Walz. Thank you, Minnesota.Diana WannLebanon, Ind.To the Editor:Having grown up in a small town in Minnesota, I agree with Sarah Smarsh that Gov. Tim Walz brings back some essential elements into our politics.I am only a few generations removed from Norwegian immigrants who came to America and helped settle an area near the South Dakota border in the last decades of the 19th century.The effort to tame and harvest the prairie created a very pragmatic “let’s get it done and move on to other things” philosophy. Many of the older farmers I remember would describe today’s political rhetoric as “bells and whistles, but no engine.”Mr. Walz is not only a refreshing relief from much of the mindless political rhetoric we have to listen to today. He may very well also be putting the engine back on our national economy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump Says He’s ‘Entitled’ to Attack Harris at News Conference

    Toward the end of a meandering news conference, former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday insisted he was “entitled” to continue his barrage of personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, even as Republican allies are pushing him to shift his tone and emphasize policy issues.Saying he was “very angry” at Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump told reporters outside the clubhouse of his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., that “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks,” and that he had little respect for his Democratic opponent.“I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and I think she’ll be a terrible president,” he said, adding, “She certainly attacks me personally.”The former president said that he didn’t need to moderate his tone to win the Republican primary, insisting that he was now running a “very calm campaign” — and even a calm news conference. “I didn’t rant and rave,” he said of his own performance as he was in the middle of it on Thursday. “I’m a very calm person.” Still, Mr. Trump repeatedly cast his opponents as “radical” and “sick.”His nearly 80-minute news conference was intended, in part, to show his renewed emphasis on the economy, inflation and other policy issues. He had props displayed on either side of him in anticipation of such a focus: a grocery-store haul that included three gallons of milk, seven Campbell’s soup cans, at least three dozen eggs and a box of Cheerios cereal that Mr. Trump said he wanted to take home with him.But during both his remarks and a question-and-answer session with reporters, Mr. Trump bounced between his proposals to fight inflation, his dry recitation of economic figures that he used to criticize Ms. Harris and the Biden administration and a number of other wide-ranging tangents, including complaints about Hillary Clinton, windmills, the news media and President Biden’s decision to exit the race.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Tim Walz y JD Vance debatirán el 1 de octubre en CBS

    Esta será la primera vez que los compañeros de fórmula de Kamala Harris y Donald Trump se enfrentarán.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]El gobernador Tim Walz de Minnesota y el senador por Ohio JD Vance han acordado participar en al menos un debate vicepresidencial este otoño. Ambos candidatos han aceptado la invitación de CBS News para enfrentarse el 1 de octubre.La cadena anunció el miércoles en la plataforma de medios sociales X que le había ofrecido a Walz y Vance, compañeros de fórmula de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris y del expresidente Donald Trump, cuatro posibles fechas: 17 de septiembre, 24 de septiembre, 1 de octubre y 8 de octubre.“Nos vemos el 1 de octubre, JD”, escribió Walz en respuesta. La campaña de Harris confirmó que había aceptado la invitación de la cadena para ese día.El jueves, Vance dijo que también había aceptado la invitación del 1 de octubre.El senador también dijo que estaba dispuesto a celebrar un segundo debate antes, el 18 de septiembre, fecha ofrecida por la CNN. “El pueblo estadounidense merece tantos debates como sea posible”, dijo Vance en un mensaje publicado en X.La campaña de Harris-Walz indicó en un comunicado que no aceptaría una fecha adicional para la vicepresidencia. “El debate sobre los debates ha terminado”, dijo en un comunicado Michael Tyler, portavoz de la campaña. “La campaña de Donald Trump aceptó nuestra propuesta de tres debates: dos presidenciales y uno vicepresidencial”.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More