How To Take Down Trump
Debate strategies for Harris
In the next 63 days, the presidential candidates will make multiple campaign appearances in dozens of states. Millions will be spent on hundreds of political ads. But one night a week from today will go a long way to determining who wins the White House.
Next Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will formally meet for the first time on the “debate” stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. I write “debate” in quotes because what will happen next Tuesday is really a joint appearance or a co-interview. The candidates will not be arguing their policy positions as though they were on a high school debate team.
With the race seemingly close, their appearance on September 10, the only one scheduled, is critical for both candidates. More on that in a moment. First, the details.
Harris has committed to the debate. So has Trump, sort of. As recently as this weekend, he was still hedging, taking shots at host network ABC News. “ABC is probably the worst in terms of fairness,” Trump said on Fox “News” on Sunday. “George Flopadopoulos, the people they have are just, they’re just terrible, Jonathan Karl.” Neither George Stephanopoulos nor Jonathan Karl is moderating. That job goes to David Muir and Linsey Davis.
To the rules: In the first “debate” between Trump and President Biden, both campaigns agreed to have microphones silenced when the candidates were not speaking in their turn. For this debate, Harris’s team wanted hot mics. She even took to social media to make her case. “Donald Trump is surrendering to his advisors who won't allow him to debate with a live microphone. If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t,” she posted on X. “We are running for President of the United States. Let’s debate in a transparent way — with the microphones on the whole time.”
Trump has had issues with hot mics — remember the “Access Hollywood” audio? As of this writing, the mics will be muted. The debate will happen in a closed room, with no live audience. The candidates are not allowed to have notes or props, and there will be two commercial breaks.
As you will most likely never forget, the June 27 presidential debate was Joe Biden’s undoing. His bad debate performance and all that followed — a precipitous drop in the polls, donations drying up, down-ballot concerns — pushed Biden to drop out of the race.
Democratic operative and truth-teller James Carville knows people love to watch a train wreck in real time, hence the popularity of reality television, and the first debate. “I guarantee a lot of voters are salivating for a second round. Only this time, Mr. Trump must be the train wreck, and it’s on Ms. Harris to lay the tracks,” Carville wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.
Harris and her team have learned a lot from almost 10 years of Trump and his hate-filled bloviating. Carville suggests Harris needs to use that knowledge to “help Trump hurt himself.” Rather than cower under his constant barrage of lies and insults, she needs to get under his skin by laughing him off, by not rising to his bait. If she flips the script, he can be pushed off balance. Trump is always worried about being perceived as weak, especially at the hands of a woman of color.
Harris’s training as a prosecutor should help her. She knows how to be methodical and remain unfazed, how to stay on offense while putting opponents on defense — a place Trump hates to be and has not been in many debates. Trump’s unpredictability is his not-so-secret weapon. If Harris can remain unperturbed by it, he may get rattled.
“She should welcome the personal attacks as a badge of honor. And each time, no matter how many times he does it, respond with this refrain: It’s the same old tired playbook, and I’m focused on a new way forward,” Carville wrote.
The pre-debate expectations game is in full swing. The first expectation is a large TV audience. The last time Trump debated a woman, Hillary Clinton, 84 million people tuned in. I would bet at least as many will be watching next Tuesday.
Trump is, unsurprisingly, downplaying his preparations for the debate. His press secretary claims he “does not need traditional debate prep.” In a statement to NBC, Karoline Leavitt went further: “President Trump has proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden.” That may be what the campaign is saying, but the stakes for this debate remain stratospheric, for both candidates.
Next Tuesday will be the first and likely last time voters will see the two candidates side by side. Everything on that stage will be important: what they say, what they don’t say, how they say it, eye contact, body language.
To get ready for the most important night of her political life, Harris has a light campaign schedule this week and is prepping with her closest advisers. I know we all want to manage expectations, but she needs to knock it out of the ballpark to sink Trump’s presidential aspirations once and for all.
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Dan
Can we please not forget he is a convicted criminal? Everyone is acting like he is a normal candidate. He is not. As for him being a strong debater? He does not debate he just bulldozes his way through and in the case of HRC stalked her onstage. He never makes sense and cannot complete a sentence. We have all seen it countless times.
Harris can stay steady. We've seen her in action. Let's let Trump do himself in.