The stakes could not be higher. Tens of millions of people will be watching, hopefully including those who (like me with baseball) tune in just in time for the World Series. Kamala Harris has to do two things: fill in the blanks in her own platform; and let Trump be Trump.
It’s hard not to like what you see with Kamala Harris. Since she kicked off the campaign, she hasn’t made a false move. Hers is the joyful, optimistic, forward-looking campaign, which is a lot to say for someone who was relatively unknown and generally disapproved of a few short months ago. Granted, the Trump campaign, and especially the candidate himself, have been throwing mud since Day One, but it hasn’t really connected yet.
The one legitimate gripe is that people don’t know where she stands and where she intends to take them. She can’t run as the candidate of the future on Biden 2.0. We need Harris 1.0. She needs to fill in some of the details, to answer and assuage the concerns of the “where does she stand?” voters.
Get Granular
She needs to get granular about her economic plans and, even more so, about the border and foreign policy. Tell the whole story of the border bill, what it provided for, and who wrote it and supported it — and then ask Donald Trump why he convinced Republicans who had openly supported it to withdraw their support so he could have a better election issue. And he talks about putting America first. If there’s one factual takeaway on the border, it should be this. Properly presented, Harris is in a position to go on the offensive about the border.
The same is true of foreign policy. It was the best part of her convention speech. She should welcome the Gaza question and repeat the balanced answer she has already formulated.
And, of course, get specific about the economy. The question is not whether there will be tax cuts but who will get them. Can you really bring grocery items down in price? What you want is for undecided voters to come away with a better sense of where she stands. And that they can trust her.
Don’t Let Trump Get Under Your Skin
Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to entrap her in identity politics. That’s why he keeps attacking her Blackness. That isn’t the campaign Harris is running. She has brilliantly dismissed it as “the old playbook … next question.”
“There you go again,” as Ronald Reagan so deftly dismissed Jimmy Carter’s attack on him in their fateful 1980 debate.
Trump will attack her, call her names, try to demean her. He will do his shtick. If she ignores it, and does not dignify it with a substantive answer, it will make him look worse than her.
Get Under His
Most of the night, in terms of Harris’ mike time, should be devoted to her making the case for a Harris presidency. This is the time.
But the highlight of the night is likely to be when Trump goes off the rails. He will. He can’t stop himself. He says he’s preparing for the debate by giving speeches at rallies and taking questions from the press, which is exactly the wrong way to prepare for a one-on-one encounter in my living room. Bait him. Thank your supporters for having turned out to win the size competition. Laugh at him. Dismiss him as a small man who can only win by dividing people. Leaders of his own party are reportedly hoping Harris will win and allow Republicans to rebuild the party. Dismiss rather than engage. Let him rant. Trump being Trump is the piece of the past that most Americans really don’t want to go back to.
