vice president Kamala Harris He’s been diligently preparing for the debate stage for months—first by preparing to face the Republican vice presidential nominee, and now debating the former president in the past few weeks. Donald TrumpAccording to four sources familiar with the Democratic candidate’s preparations.
The training sessions were sandwiched between campaign stops, official duties as vice president and preparations for her first joint interview with running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz. aired Thursday night This was reported by sources on the CNN channel.
Among Harris’ main goals, sources said, is to stay calm and avoid Trump’s personal attacks by focusing on talking about how his presidency will help everyday people.
Harris also aims to show what the campaign characterized as Trump’s lies, failures and broken promises during his tenure, and to differentiate the administration he intends to lead based on his legacy from that of President Joe Biden.
However, as of Thursday night, the Trump and Harris camps still had no agreement on the rules for the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News.
Getting under Trump’s skin
A source told NBC News that as Harris’ team prepares to talk about a variety of issues, the campaign considers the optics of the debate very important. To that end, Harris and his team are focusing on how to nail Trump, the source said.
In that sense, the source said, it will be less about substance and more about showcasing Harris as a woman who is fearless and fearless, standing up to Trump and holding him accountable.
His campaign also hopes to “remind people of what the Donald Trump years were like,” the source said.
That strategy includes Harris likely bringing up issues such as: Trump’s inability to pay for Mexico’s southern border wall, his response to the Covid pandemic, his failure to come up with an alternative health plan after trying to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Care Act and his failure to pass Biden’s signature broad infrastructure bill. Harris is also expected to hit Trump for his critical role in pushing Republicans to back down bilateral border bill It will address many of the issues he used to attack Democrats.
Another source said Harris’ team plans to highlight what they see as Trump’s aging and lack of detail on his policy proposals.
“If you listen to the first debate without Joe Biden, it was the second worst debate performance in presidential debate history. It just got overshadowed because Joe Biden’s was so terrible,” the source said.
The source added that while Harris is a “real person” who gets angry and emotional, the goal is for her to remain calm no matter how personal the attack is.
Tension over how to stand out from Biden
Differentiating between Harris and Biden is a source of tension, as some on Harris’ team feel he may have to respectfully but forcefully place blame at Biden’s feet for some problems, such as the Afghanistan withdrawal.
One source said the withdrawal in 2021 was seen as an “obvious weakness” that Harris was working out how to address.
“They’re trying to figure out how to create space between him and some of his decisions,” the source said. There is one way to say, “I am the vice president”; I work under the direction and instructions of the president.” He wants to figure out how to strategically answer those questions without causing trouble for Biden. … But there are some on the team who really don’t care about making trouble for Biden.”
Avoiding a Tulsi Gabbard moment
Harris and his team are in the spotlight A moment from the Democratic presidency initially Discussion in July 2019 when Tulsi Gabbard, then a member of the House of Representatives from Hawaii, launched a lengthy attack on Harris’ impeachment documents.
Gabbard accused Harris of arresting more than 1,500 people for marijuana violations while she was a California prosecutor, adding that he “laughed it off when asked if he had ever smoked marijuana,” prompting applause from the audience.
Harris and his team were unprepared for the onslaught, and are working to ensure he can pivot quickly in the face of a similar approach from Trump.
“He was shaken. He was on the ropes. And she had neither a home nor a valuable offer to move out of,” the source said. “He has recovered. He came back and made a good argument against Mike Pence. But it’s a moment that sticks firmly in Harris’ mind.
Gabbard has recently endorsed Trump and is working with Harris to prepare for the debate.
Soon mock discussions with a very small circle
Harris maintains a very small team directly involved in debate preparations, including his brother-in-law Tony West; long-time assistant Rohini Kosoglu; Brian Nelson, senior policy adviser for the campaign; and Josh Hsu, his chief legal adviser at the White House.
Most of the preparations so far have involved providing Harris with briefing books on various topics and going through question-and-answer sessions.
Four sources said they believed Harris was going to hold a completely bogus debate after that Travel in Georgia and boost his Labor Day trip.
NBC News there is informed Harris said his team tapped Philippe Reines, a longtime Democratic strategist, to revive Trump, reprising the role he played for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump’s approach to the September debate
Caroline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said there is no need for traditional debate preparation.
“President Trump has proven to be one of the best debaters in political history, as evidenced by his knockout of Joe Biden,” he said. “She doesn’t need traditional debate training because, unlike Kamala Harris, she’s a master of the issues, sits down for frequent interviews and takes questions from the hostile news media almost daily.”
Trump suggested this week that it might withdraw from an argumentHe argued that ABC News treated Republicans unfairly. The Harris campaign has raised the issue of using live microphones, which Trump initially said he was indifferent to, but which his campaign has opposed.
Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Harris campaign, he wrote on Thursdayn X was a campaign asked to go along with the silent mic request Trump’s team, claiming that “his handlers don’t trust him to have a live chat with VP Harris.”