Trump threatens to quit Kamala debate after RFK backs him, denounces media

The debate over debates tells us a great deal about the state of the presidential race.

If only we could figure out what it is.

Donald Trump, by slamming "ABC FAKE NEWS," suggested he may pull out of the Sept. 10 faceoff. He said yesterday at a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia that it was Kamala Harris who is trying to back out of the debate.

A top Harris campaign official, Michael Tyler, responded on MSNBC that the vice president is actually anxious to debate and he thought all the issues had been worked out.

KAMALA HARRIS, TIME COVER GIRL: IS HER SURGE AGAINST TRUMP FUELED BY AN ENDLESS MEDIA HONEYMOON?

My best read is that the debate will happen and that this is the kind of last-minute negotiation for which Trump is renowned.

Remember, this debate was worked out with Joe Biden, whose first encounter with Trump, which the president demanded, was such a disaster that it knocked him out of the race. That led to Harris as the substitute nominee, which was not a "coup" – it’s clear that Trump misses Biden – because nobody ran against Kamala.

A good rule of thumb is that the candidate who is perceived to be behind, or to have lost momentum, wants the debate more urgently.

At the CNN debate, Biden insisted that the microphones be muted for the candidate who wasn’t recognized to speak. He was obviously trying to avoid a repeat of their first 2020 encounter, when Trump constantly talked over him.

But now Kamala is insisting that the mikes be kept live no matter who is speaking. Her campaign says this will demonstrate that Trump isn’t capable of acting "presidential" for 90 minutes.

Another way to look at it: If the former president does constantly interrupt her, it will remind people what they don’t like about him – and could seem more