Donald Trump’s Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris could be his biggest opportunity yet to regain ground lost to Harris in fundraising and in the polls, according to his GOP allies. But some are literally praying he just doesn’t go off the rails.
“I think—I pray—he can be disciplined,” Republican strategist Tricia McLaughlin told Politico, voicing concerns about Trump trading personal attacks over focusing on policy.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich theorized that could be exactly what Harris wants, and she could try to “bait him.”
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“She’ll be personal and try to demean him,” Gingrich told Politico. “I think, I hope, what he’ll do is be a guy who’s been a real president—while she has been kind of a semi-vice president—and a guy who knows all the world leaders, and a guy who has been through an enormous amount, and just be calm and steady and stick to the real differences.”
However, if Trump is indeed backed into a corner with personal attacks, all bets could be off said McLaughlin, who served as a senior adviser in Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign.
McLaughlin added that Trump could feel like “it’s three on one, that could be a problem,” referring to the debate’s moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC. Trump publicly slammed ABC as “dishonest” and referred to star anchor George Stephanopoulos as “Liddle” George “Slopadopolus” in a stream of posts on his Truth Social platform.
In a New York Times op-ed published on Tuesday, Repubican Sen. Lindsey Graham said “the road to the White House runs through a vigorous policy debate, not an exchange of barbs.”
Following backlash over questioning Harris’ race in June, Trump has said that he believes that he was “entitled to personal attacks” and won’t change his strategy.
An official close to the former president seemed convinced, claiming that Trump’s preparation for the debate has been minimal.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said Trump does “gives unscripted hour-plus press conferences, he gives speeches that include a lot of material, extemporaneously. They added, “The idea that he has to ‘prepare for a debate’ is absurd.”
