I met with an Eagle vendor today. The salesman asked me, “Are you going to watch the trainwreck tonight?”
He was referring to tonight’s debate between current Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
The 90-minute debate begins at 6PM Pacific time and is being broadcast on ABC and online. There will be no live audience, no opening statements and mics will get muted between questions to limit cross-talk.
I expect it to be entertaining at the least. Look closely and you’ll notice that Harris has a shorter podium to make her appear taller. She’s 5’4″ and Trump is 6′-3″ so this may level the playing field.
Two big questions in my mind:
Will Harris’s lack of experience in debates, press conferences and live interviews allow her to appear presidential and confident as the leader of the free world?
Trump on the other hand is very comfortable on the debate stage, speaking off the cuff and facing hostile questions from the press. His challenge is to avoid pointed attacks on Harris which would make him appear mean and make Harris the victim.
Of course, if Harris cannot stand up to Trump in a debate how can we expect her to stand up to Putin and Xi on the world stage?
My advice to Trump would be to avoid personal attacks and focus on how well people did under the Trump administration compared to the Biden-Harris administration. Just let Harris talk and talk and talk.
The last debate trainwreck happened on June 28 when President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline became painfully obvious to viewers and voters around the world. Ten weeks later we have a new Democrat candidate for what could be the last debate of this presidential election cycle.
I expect this debate to set the tone for the rest of the presidential campaign. We’ll see how it goes.
You can watch tonight’s debate live here: