WASHINGTON: With less than two months to go until the US presidential election, both Democrats and Republicans are pushing for the upper hand, a key aspect of which also includes the presidential debates.
US Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is preparing for her highly anticipated Sept. 10 debate with Donald Trump by focusing on ways to unnerve the Republican nominee and draw attention to his frequent falsehoods about policy and recent history, all with an eye toward social media, aides and advisers say.
The last time Harris appeared on a debate stage was in 2020 against then-Vice President Mike Pence, a night fraught with political bickering and marked by Harris’ rebuke of former Vice President Mike Pence’s interruptions but likely remembered by most American voters for the fly that disrupted the event.
This time, the Democratic nominee plans to focus on what her team calls Trump's failures on the U.S. border wall, infrastructure and the COVID-19 pandemic, while hoping to avoid falling into personal attacks, they said.
Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have attacked Harris and President Joe Biden over inflation, the high number of illegal immigrants crossing the southern U.S. border and economic proposals they say will increase government spending.
Trump's personal attacks on Harris have intensified as she overtakes him in national opinion polls since Biden was ousted from the presidential race on July 21 after a disastrous performance in the June debate.
Harris has delivered several policy-focused speeches, but American voters will be watching for more details.
“Independents in key swing states still need and want to hear more detailed policy proposals from her,” said Republican strategist Rina Shah. “She'll also have to push back against Trump.” […] with facts, figures and data on what he did wrong during his administration.”
Another point of interest is how the vice president interacts with Trump, who has repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
“She should let him talk over her. Not just let him, but encourage him to suggest insane conspiracy theories about the previous election,” veteran Democratic strategist James Carville wrote in an article. The New York Times Wednesday's opinion piece.
Harris’ team believes many will watch the debate in the form of video clips on social media platforms like TikTok and X, and will look for ways to create moments that people want to share. That includes trying to pressure Trump to say things he shouldn’t say, two sources said, such as potentially provocative or offensive comments.
Mock debates
Harris has been holding mock debates for the prime-time showdown with Philippe Reines, a longtime adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a role she has played before.
For several days before the showdown, Harris will be based on Pennsylvania's western border in Pittsburgh, holding a mix of campaign events there before flying to Philadelphia for her first meeting with the former president.
President Barack Obama, who has informally advised Harris, pursued a similar strategy in 2012 when he was running for re-election, setting up shop in the key state of Nevada for days of preparation before his first debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Denver.
Harris' campaign has sought to rile Trump since she became the Democratic standard-bearer, calling him “weird,” a term Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, first used against the Republican.
His campaign hopes the debate will be important, but not necessarily a game-changer in terms of how it affects public perception of the former president.
Trump's demeanor in the June debate against Biden was more measured and disciplined than some of his previous performances.
