Harris and Trump are getting ready for Tuesday’s debate in sharply different ways
PITTSBURGH — Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are diverging sharply in the way they are preparing for Tuesday’s presidential debatewhich creates a confrontation that reflects not only two different visions of the country, but also two politicians who approach big moments in very different ways.
The vice president is holed up in a historic hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, where she can concentrate on crafting clear answers in two minutes, the debate said. linesShe has been working with her staff since Thursday and has chosen a location that will give the Democratic candidate the opportunity to engage with voters from swing states.
Trump, the Republican nominee, publicly denies the value of studying for the debate. The former president instead chooses to fill his days with campaign related events based on the assumption that he will know what to do once he steps onto the debate stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
“You can go into it with whatever strategy you want, but you have to kind of feel it out as the debate goes on,” he said during a sit-down with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Trump then quoted former boxing legend Mike Tyson, who said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Harris has said she is prepared for Trump to dish out insults and distort facts, even as she has shown in her campaign the value of emphasizing the middle class and the prospects for a better future for the country.
“We have to be prepared for the fact that he is not charged with telling the truth,” Harris said in a radio interview for the Rickey Smiley Morning Show. “He’s mostly fighting for himself, not for the American people, and I think that’s going to come out in the debate.”
In her own preparation, Harris has Democratic adviser Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, portray Trump. She likes to describe Trump as someone who has a “playbook” of lies to take on Democrats like Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
Harris has said she understands Trump on a deeper psychological level. She has tried in speeches such as her remarks at the Democratic National Convention to show that she would be a stronger leader than he is — an argument that speaks to Trump’s own desire to project and display strength.
Trump’s June 27 debate against President Joe Biden shook up the election, with Biden’s disastrous performance ultimately leading to his step aside as the Democratic nominee and Harris supporting. Both campaigns know that the first face-to-face meeting between Harris and Trump could be a decisive event in a neck-and-neck race.
Trump preemptively criticizes the ABC News debate moderators, claiming he won’t be treated fairly. But he said he plans to let Harris speak, just as he did during his debate with Biden.
“I’m going to let him talk. I’m going to let her talk,” he said during the Hannity town hall.
Trump aides said this time around would be no different from the last debate and that the former president would do no more traditional preparation. There will be no stand-ins, no sets, no theatrics.
Instead, they point to Trump’s frequent interviews, which have included answering questions during lengthy press conferences, listening to hours-long podcasts and participating in town hall meetings with amiable hosts like Hannity.
Trump also meets regularly with policy advisers who are experts on issues likely to come up during the debate. During these informal sessions, they talk about the issues, Trump’s policies during his time in office, and his plans for a second term.
“I have meetings about it. We talk about it. But there’s not much you can do. You either know your subject or you don’t. You either have a good policy or you don’t,” he said in a radio interview in New Hampshire.
For the final debate, Trump held sessions with notable Republicans like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was considered to be Trump’s vice presidential nominee at the time. This time, he held sessions with Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman and Democratic presidential nominee who is now supporting Trump.
Gabbard, who is also now a member of Trump’s transition team, was specifically brought in to help Trump this time around because she knows Harris, having debated her when the two were running for the Democratic nomination in 2020. She also recently hosted a town hall with Trump in Wisconsin.
Trump, his aides say, wants to put Harris on the defensive, painting her as too liberal while trying to tie her to Biden’s economic record and pointing to her walkbacks on issues like a fracking ban that she no longer supports.
“We look forward to the opportunity for Americans to see her on stage, unable to defend her policies and her twists,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. “The president has proven that he has mastered the issues, she has not.”
Harris’ team is counting on Trump to come across as extreme and to use the debate as a springboard to build on the momentum her short campaign has generated. The campaign plans to use the pre-debate weekend to hold 2,000 volunteer events and reach more than a million voters.
“With hundreds of offices and thousands of staffers spread across the battlegrounds, we can leverage all the buzz surrounding the debate and reach hard-to-reach voters,” Dan Kanninen, the battleground campaign director, said in a statement.
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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.