Trump can be coached, going by previous debate performances, into being passable and coherent. He is not great at debate forums. He misses lots of opportunities where his opposition is weak in an ongoing fashion to make points that do not resonate with voters. Very frustrating for his base.
Harris has yet to perform well even during fluff interviews with softball questions designed to make her look good.
Tulsi Gabbard ate her lunch and supper during the Democrats primary. Her best response was to call Biden a racist.
The latest fluff interview on CNN with a recognized obvious supporter was heavily edited to pull the best moments she had...and yet those were still disastrous.
During her first days as VP she had a VERY difficult time keeping to the same message the White House was issuing. She constantly was harassed about the policy differences between the two of them.
the Debate are past the point of "low expectations with surprising results". It's to the point that we expect screeching and tears with her going on a bender afterwards that will border on alcohol poisoning. People love to watch shark week for the fish getting chewed up by large teeth. Kamala is the bait.
She will know the talking points in and out though. Trump will seem evasive when his mind goes to a broader issue or on one of his tangents. It isn't a rally, but he treats it like it is. He has to think back to his university days and structure his arguments sharply in order to win. She is good at regurgitating someone elses words.
I was in the Toastmasters Club when I worked at IBM. Somewhat by default I was nominated to be the "regional representative" and to represent our team. I turned it down, perhaps unwisely because I do enjoy debate and speeches of persuasion, even just to debate and philosophize. There was no benefit to me so I didn't want to put in the effort.
There were small law class debates in High School and of course university required plenty of debate and exchanges of ideas, though far less than I see in U.S university course videos I have watched. To be a good debater you have to answer the question. He needs to address it in a strong manner first, before turning the tables on her, which he likes to do and does fairly well because he understand the Dems weaknesses.
Therefore, focus on your strength first on the policy. The more important the policy for him "economy, the border, abortion, World War III" the more time he should spend on it. The more detailed he should be.
The debate against Biden could have been won by a wider margin if he drilled them with facts, especially facts based on Trumps years. The fallacy that "Trump lost all these jobs while Dems gained" is the worst and one he must debunk in this debate. "During covid our economy didn't lose millions of jobs, they were furloughed because states shut down during covid. Biden just regained those jobs and then used false job stats after record debt for the I.R.A that hurt American workers drastically. Overstated by almost a million jobs. What else did they overstate that we don't hear about"?
I mean this is really childs play. Harris will try to get him off balance with personal attacks, attacking silly things to get his attention. He has to stay focused, because she will just repeat what she practiced.
The media are trying to make this debate bigger than it is because they want the same kind of HR they worked on Biden to get. He thus has to get her off her talking points. Having the mic off could hurt him in the long wrong run but if it keeps him disciplined it will be to his advantage. No crowd? That's absurd if true.
She probably wins this debate, even if it's just an even outcome it will guarantee she doesn't do a second. The media want an easy argument as to why Trump lost the eelction in 2024 against someone with the worst approval rating in history, in a government with the worst approval rating, record inflation, massive personal debt and open borders.
When WWIII begins as Europe continues their decline and inability to assist without any pressure on them, it will not be pretty.
