Monday, September 16

Trump and Harris prepare for Tuesday's crucial debate with very different strategies

The candidates for the presidential elections on November 5, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, They are preparing very differently for the crucial debate that will put them face to face on Tuesday, September 10 in the studios of the ABC network in Philadelphia and which will probably be the only one of the electoral campaign.

Trump’s previous debate with Biden on June 27 will go down in history for having precipitated Biden’s withdrawal from the race, and expectations for Tuesday are not as high, but the closeness of the polls and the fact that it may be the only face-to-face debate make it relevant for its ability to influence the undecided.

At his final public rally on Saturday in Wisconsin, Trump barely mentioned the debate.except when he said that you could “destroy her (Kamala)” and even then the mainstream media will say that he was humiliated, due to alleged antipathy towards him.

True to form, Trump has spent several days disqualifying Kamala Harris, her inexperience, her changes of opinion and her few achievements in her past political life, which supposedly make her easy prey, and he has joked that he has been “locked up” for several days and preparing for this debate out of fear of his opponent.

On the contrary, Trump boasts that he doesn’t need any training“I have prepared my whole life for this debate (…) You have to know your subject, live with your subject, I live with my subject: I live with all these horrible problems that (the Democrats) have caused. We have had meetings, yes, we have talked, but there is not much one can do. Either you know your subject or you don’t know it,” he said this week in an interview in New Hampshire.

Trump and Harris prepare for Tuesday's crucial debate with very different strategies
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to debate.
Credit: AP

Two contrasting styles

Trump appears to be right, according to what was revealed on Saturday by the New York Times: according to the newspaper, Kamala Harris has locked herself in a hotel in Pittsburgh for five days (Pennsylvania, the same state as Philadelphia) and has reproduced a scenario similar to that of the debate, with a ‘double’ of Donald Trump who dresses and speaks like him.

In contrast, Trump follows a much more improvised stylealthough his advisers have convinced him to sit at a table and learn how to respond to the most difficult questions, especially those that Harris might ask him about his judicial problems, a thankless role played by Florida Republican Matt Gaetz.

Politico.com also noted on Saturday that Trump’s entourage fears the candidate will not focus on politics (on Harris’s alleged shortcomings) but will soon descend into personal matters, which he could do as soon as he feels cornered, revealing a Trump who captivates his audience but who will hardly win support among those who are hesitant.

The microphones are muted

The rules of the debate have been carefully negotiated by the candidates’ teams, who have decided Maintain the conditions of the Biden/Trump debate: appearance without an audiencemeasured time to speak or reply, without contact with their teams or during breaks and without written notes brought in advance.

The most delicate issue has been that of muted microphones: here, Harris’ team has tried unsuccessfully to leave the microphones on, justifying it with the argument that they would be at a disadvantage by making direct exchanges impossible and thus shielding Trump from the most spontaneous retorts, as they wrote to ABC.

As for the choice of ABC as the channel where the debate will be held, it has turned out to be in recent days The subject of constant criticism from Trump, who has disqualified its editorial linegoing so far as to call her “the most disgusting” of the networks and implying that she is biased against him because of alleged friendships between Harris and a former ABC executive.

Trump has even claimed that ABC has not played fair and has provided Kamala Harris with questions in advance, something that has been categorically denied by the network.

But as the day draws near, it seems unlikely that Trump will back out. He also has a much broader stage presence than Harris. The only thing that could hurt him is his own personality and his tendency to break any script.

With information from EFE.

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