# Muting the mics at the presidential debate **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 26, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340 "2024-06-26T02:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/41 "2024-06-26T20:53:01Z")
Tapper The Zapper! Has a nice ring to it! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/42 "2024-06-26T21:19:07Z")
I would prefer live, on-air euthanasia. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/43 "2024-06-26T21:58:37Z")
At the very least a tranquilizer dart. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/44 "2024-06-26T22:09:22Z")
Instead of muting the mics, maybe they should switch the candidates’ mics to Autotune when their time is up. Then Trump would sound like he was singing. And he couldn’t claim that he’d been silenced. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/45 "2024-06-26T22:09:22Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Having Trump yelling about, even if the mics don’t pick it up, would be sufficiently off-putting for Biden to make him lose the thread of his argument, making him look senile. Sleepy Joe has been a politician for a half-century. He’s been heckled, booed, called a liar at the State of the Union, and who knows what else. The guy can take two minutes to deliver a point even if Donald does a fan dance in front of him. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/46 "2024-06-26T22:11:09Z")
I very much hope you are right. We’ll know soon. Trump is meaner than most and he enjoys it. Specially when he gets away with it, as he often has done. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/47 "2024-06-26T22:21:46Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Instead of muting the mics, maybe they should switch the candidates’ mics to Autotune when their time is up. Then Trump would sound like he was singing. It’s been done. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/un9x-DjTMT0/maxresdefault.jpg "WE'RE ALL DOOMED - Trump vs. Biden ft. "Weird Al" Yankovic") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un9x-DjTMT0) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/48 "2024-06-26T22:28:44Z")
I really don’t get why people are so wrapped up in speculating about what insane things Trump is going to do when the mic is muted as if this wasn’t the same format for the second debate in 2020 and none of those things happened. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/49 "2024-06-26T22:54:12Z")
Trump has deteriorated both mentally and morally since then. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/50 "2024-06-26T22:54:38Z")
CNN has posted an interesting “featurette” of how things will work at the debate, including a demonstration of the muted microphones, timing lights, and more: > **[Inside CNN’s Presidential Debate: How it will work | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/politics/video/cnn-presidential-debate-2024-biden-trump-mattingly-blackwell-digvid)** > > President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to face off in their first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Victor Blackwell break down the rules and what the event will look like for viewers. Watch the CNN... ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/51 "2024-06-27T00:14:50Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Trump has deteriorated both mentally and morally since then. The former I’ll give you, but I don’t think the latter is possible. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/52 "2024-06-27T09:48:23Z")
And if they have a sharp audio engineer, they can set a gate threshold so any sound less than a certain level will be totally blanked, and yelling across the room into someone else’s mic simply won’t work. I’d sure like to be that audio engineer and make America great again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/53 "2024-06-27T10:16:36Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I’m half-expecting that Trump will stomp over to Biden’s podium and yell into that mike if his own is cut off. I was half-expecting you to phrase that with a “that” instead of an “if.” _“Excuse me. Excuse me! The other microphone has, for some reason, stopped working; that’s why I’m using this one, because I know the moderators would sure want me to bring this to their attention. I said as much while I was at the other lectern, but I guess they couldn’t hear me over there; can you hear me now, at this one? If so, you should send a repairman to the one that’s not working.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/54 "2024-06-27T10:41:31Z")
After watching the “Inside CNN’s…” video linked by **Spoons** , above, I have only one suggestion. Rather than showing the vocally-muted candidate flapping their gums, I think they should be muted in the video sense as well. That way, they will be “more” invisible, which is the ultimate intention, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/55 "2024-06-27T10:58:00Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > Trump has deteriorated both mentally and morally since then. ⁢ > > The former I’ll give you, but I don’t think the latter is possible. ⁢ I don’t think his morals have changed, necessarily, but he is even more bold about them. He’s always finding a new bar to limbo under. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/56 "2024-06-27T14:56:23Z")
It’s a sign of his mental deterioration I think. It’s getting harder for him to fake decent behavior in public. Which is why the whole muting mics thing is necessary ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/57 "2024-06-27T23:05:56Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Donald does a fan dance in front of him. Dammit, I was about to fix supper. Thanks a lot. ---
**Author:** ![ZeroDay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeroday/32/17088_2.png) [@ZeroDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZeroDay)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/58 "2024-07-01T20:50:57Z")
How sad is it really when you need to literally silence the mikes lol. Something like that would never happen here in Finland. Usually people wait their turn politely and don’t talk over each other. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340/59 "2024-07-01T20:56:30Z")
And that’s why you’ve never won a World Series. Think about that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/muting-the-mics-at-the-presidential-debate/1003340.md?page=2)