Insights into the very different debate preparation of Harris and Trump

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’ approaches to debate preparation seem to be as different as their political views.

While Harris relies on a circle of trusted and experienced advisers – one of whom even wore three-inch shoe lifts and an ill-fitting suit to play Trump – the former president is reportedly “not spending much time” preparing for the Sept. 10 ABC News debate.

The vice president hasn’t appeared on the debate stage since 2020, when she faced then-Vice President Mike Pence. One of the most memorable moments was the fly that landed on his head for two minutes and subsequently went viral.

This time, as the two presidential candidates prepare for their first face-to-face meeting, the Democratic candidate will be put through her paces by Phillipe Reines, who will take on the role of Trump he played for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“Before I put on the ill-fitting suit I had tailored, I studied the eleven Republican primary debates in which Trump had participated in order to prepare,” Reines revealed in theWashington Post in 2020.

“I watched everything three times: once from beginning to end; then just the dialogue involving Trump; and finally just Trump, standing at a lectern in my living room with the sound turned down so I could concentrate entirely on his gestures and body language.”

Last month, Reines was spotted wearing a long tie – but no wig – at Howard University in Washington, where Harris was participating in a mock debate at her alma mater, according to The ^ “New York Times: The New York Times”.

In addition to Reines, Harris’ inner debate preparation circle also includes longtime assistant Rohini Kosoglu, Karen Dunn, a lawyer who prepared Harris for the 2020 vice presidential debate, and Sean Clegg, who was a leading strategist on her 2020 campaign, according to the times.

Her tactics focus on how to get on Trump’s nerves and stay calm when he inevitably moves to a personal attack, a source familiar with Harris’ debate preparations told NBC News.

Crucially, Harris’ team wants to ensure there is no repeat of the July 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, in which Tulsi Gabbard launched an attack on the vice president’s criminal record. Gabbard, who has endorsed Trump and is now advising him ahead of the debate, accused Harris of incarcerating more than 1,500 people on marijuana-related charges during her time as a California prosecutor.

Gabbard pointed to her “hypocrisy” and said Harris “laughed when asked if she had ever smoked marijuana.”

Harris was unprepared for the attack. “She was unsettled. She was hanging on the ground. And she had no home or value proposition to get out of there,” the source told NBC News, adding that “this is a moment that will stay with Harris for a long time.”

Meanwhile, Trump does not seem to be too concerned about his preparations for the debate against President Joe Biden in June.

“I don’t spend a lot of time on it,” he told CNN. “I think I’ve been preparing for a debate my whole life.”

The Republican presidential candidate was spotted on the golf course in the days leading up to the June debate, and his camp hailed it as the “knockout punch” that led to Biden’s exit from the race.

“President Trump has proven himself to be one of the best debaters in political history, as evidenced by his devastating defeat of Joe Biden,” said campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

She added that Trump “will not need traditional debate preparation but will continue to meet with respected political advisers and successful communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage.”

The Trump campaign’s strategy will be to attack the vice president’s political stance and policies – or what he claims he doesn’t have – on key issues such as the border wall, immigration, fracking and the economy.

Gabbard said of her role in the effort, “If I can be of any assistance to President Trump, it’s just by sharing experiences I had with her on the debate stage in 2020 and, frankly, by helping to highlight how Kamala Harris has already shown that she is trying to move away from her record and her positions, and how that contradicts the positions and statements she is making now that she is the Democratic nominee.”

As the Harris and Trump campaigns continue to squabble over microphones and other details, the countdown to the highly anticipated debate is well underway, with just over a week to go.