Sen. Ted Cruz to Trump: Do the debate under any rules Harris wants

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says former President Donald Trump should agree to “whatever stupid rules” Vice President Kamala Harris wants during a Sept. 10 debate on ABC, pushing back on the idea that the GOP nominee is within his rights to pull out of the prime-time showdown.

Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican and key Trump ally, weighed in after Mr. Trump suggested he might withdraw from the presidential debate because he thinks ABC is biased. Also, the two campaigns are having a hard time agreeing to ground rules.

“I think Trump needs to do the debate,” Mr. Cruz told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday. “And frankly, I think he should agree to whatever stupid rules they want. It’s going to be hostile and rigged regardless.”

The Trump campaign wanted to abide by debate rules established by the June 27 Trump-Biden debate on CNN. Yet a rift emerged this time over microphones, with the Trump side wanting them muted during nonspeaking periods and the Harris campaign saying the mics should stay hot.

The Harris campaign ridiculed Mr. Trump, saying his team is afraid to let him speak freely. Mr. Trump said he’s mainly concerned about ABC and its moderators.

Mr. Cruz said Ms. Harris is the one looking for a way out of the debate, so Mr. Trump should show up no matter what.

“My advice would be: Come up with whatever stupid rules you want. If you want her to wear a cheesehead while she’s debating, you want the mics hot or not, you want to have an encyclopedia of talking points in front of her — I don’t care, I want to stand up directly and contrast her record and mine,” Mr. Cruz said, thinking out loud as if he were the Trump campaign.

Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris agreed to the Sept. 10 debate after days of jockeying over networks and dates. 

The former president wanted to do an earlier debate on Fox News, but the Harris campaign refused, saying he was breaking old arrangements.

The Trump side argued those arrangements had been made when President Biden was still running.

Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris might debate again after the ABC event, though the only other confirmed debate is an Oct. 1 vice presidential face-off between Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on CBS.

Mr. Hannity said Mr. Trump ought to offer a deal in which he shows up for the ABC debate if she agrees to a second debate. 

Mr. Cruz wasn’t impressed by the idea, saying Ms. Harris would just say no.

“Don’t let her out of the debate,” the senator said. “We need her there because without a debate, her campaign will never answer a single question between now and Election Day, and that’s their only hope of winning — is focus on joy and hope-y, change-y stuff and not her disastrous record.”