- Former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross warned against too ‘strong’ an impression
Donald Trump should be careful not to push too hard on Kamala Harris during their first debate this month, former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross warns.
Ross, 86, fears the former president is coming across as too “hard” on Vice President Harris and says people don’t want to see a woman treated that way.
Harris and Trump are scheduled for their first debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 10, hosted by ABC News.
After a bitter row over rules and logistics — including whether microphones would be muted and whether candidates would sit or stand — Trump’s team and ABC News now claim the rules are set and they’re okay with them.
“The only danger is that Trump is big and strong and a man,” Ross told radio host John Catsimatidis during an interview with The Cats Roundtable on Sunday morning.
Former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (pictured left) warned Donald Trump not to come across as too “strong” during his debate with Kamala Harris because “people don’t like to see a woman under pressure”
He continued: ‘He has to be careful that he is not seen as someone who is pushing a woman. People don’t like to see a woman being pushed too hard.’
But Trump previously debated a woman one-on-one when he ran against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
Ross served nearly the entire Trump administration term. He became Secretary of Commerce on February 28, 2017. His term ended on January 20, 2021.
He also recommended that the debate focus less on theatrics and more on “real issues” such as inflation, the southern border and foreign wars, which he said are “things that people are really, really worried about in this election cycle.”
Trump faced off against Joe Biden in the final presidential debate on June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia. The CNN event marked the beginning of the end for the Democratic president’s re-election campaign.
Less than a month after the confrontation, Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris to give him the lead in November.
The campaign, when it was still the Biden-Harris ticket, agreed to negotiate rules for Harris when she appeared as the vice presidential nominee. These included no pre-written notes, standing behind a podium and muting microphones when it wasn’t the candidates’ turn to speak.
But Trump’s team claims his Democratic rival wants to change that now that she’s against him.
Harris will face Trump directly in their first debate on September 10 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hosted by ABC News
While the debate over muting microphones appears to still be ongoing and the Harris campaign continues to pressure ABC News to drop the rule, the other logistics appear to be in place.
Harris’ campaign wanted the microphones to remain on during the debate because they thought viewers would see Trump interrupting the vice president. The muted microphones during the CNN debate in June were seen as an advantage to Trump.
According to Trump’s campaign team, Harris wanted to sit so that the 6-foot-3 former president wouldn’t tower over her, even though she is nearly a foot shorter at 5 feet 3 inches.
They also say Harris wanted to take pre-written notes on stage, something the VP team strongly denies.
The debate will be similar to the one CNN hosted earlier this summer, with rules and logistics including the lack of a live audience.
