Flowers says she will attend debate
Donald Trump needs to prove to voters that he has the policy depth and gravitas to serve as commander in chief. Hillary Clinton needs a moment to connect with Americans who question whether she can be trusted.
In an election year that has upended political convention, the candidates’ best opportunity to conquer their weaknesses will come in the most traditional of campaign forums: Monday’s 90-minute, prime-time debate.
Both campaigns expect a record-setting television audience for the highstakes showdown.
The visuals alone will be striking as the candidates step behind their podiums at Hofstra University in suburban New York. Clinton will be the first woman to take the stage in a presidential general election debate. Trump has spent years on Americans’ television screens as a reality show host.
The candidates’ preparation has been a microcosm of their sharply different approaches to politics and presumably, the presidency. The Democratic nominee has taken full days away from campaign travel to pore over briefing books, practicing to pounce if Trump makes false statements and steeling herself for the possibility that he levels deeply personal attacks. She’s been preparing for the debate at her home in Westchester, New York, and a nearby hotel.
Former President Bill Clinton has offered advice from his own White House debates.
Trump has eschewed traditional debate preparations, but has held midflight policy discussions with a rotating cast of advisers. He’s also spent numerous Sundays batting around ideas with aides.
The Republican businessman’s loose approach is potentially risky given that he is new to many policy issues expected to come up during the debate. But advisers contend he will compensate by being quick on his feet and point to his experience at performing under pressure.
“Imagine the practice and the training of 13 years of reality television on ‘The Apprentice’ and then imagine Hillary’s experience reading hundreds of papers,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a Trump adviser who has been talking through policy with the candidate in recent days.
Clinton aides fear Trump will indeed be judged more for his performance than his grasp of the numerous challenges that pass across a president’s desk. They’ve been flummoxed by Trump’s ability to sail through the campaign without fleshing out many policy positions and glossing over past statements that he no longer views as politically palatable.
On Friday, the Clinton campaign released 19 pages of what they called Trump’s “seven deadly lies,” including his false assertion that he opposed the Iraq war from the start.
“Even if he meets some kind of lowered bar of being semi-coherent and not having any outbursts, it’s hard to imagine he’ll avoid his own propensity for lying,” said Brian Fallon, Clinton’s campaign spokesman.
Clinton has debated more than 30 times at the presidential level, including several one-on-one debates with Barack Obama in 2008 and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016. But this will be her first presidential debate against a candidate from an opposing party.
Trump had an uneven record during the Republican debates, sometimes controlling the crowded contests and other times fading into the background. He flipped back and forth between being bombastic and trying to act restrained.
Gennifer Flowers, who revealed a sexual relationship with Bill Clinton in the 1990s, says she will attend Monday night’s debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as Trump’s guest.
Flowers’ assistant confirmed the decision Saturday afternoon, and Flowers herself told the New York Times in a text message, “Yes, I will be there.”
The decision was the latest play in a bizarre bit of gamesmanship between the Clinton and Trump campaigns over the debate. Clinton’s camp confirmed last week that they would invite billionaire Mark Cuban, a Trump antagonist, to the debate.
“Just got a front row seat to watch @HillaryClinton overwhelm @ realDonaldTrump at the ‘Humbling at Hofstra’ on Monday. It Is On!” Cuban tweeted.
The two billionaires have feuded regularly in recent years. At a July campaign stop for Clinton, Cuban called Trump “bats--- crazy.”
Despite the confirmations, the Trump campaign still has yet to say whether he will bring her.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will meet today in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official and both campaigns said.