Trump tactics can trip up debaters
He’s brash and loud, but Clinton must be careful of his subtler side
Donald Trump the debater is famous for calling others on stage “Little Marco” and “Lyin’ Ted,” for mocking Jeb Bush’s energy and Rand Paul’s look, for guaranteeing how big he is.
In 11 primary debates, Trump also displayed less obvious tactics and tendencies that could indicate how he’ll debate Hillary Clinton on Monday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., in the first of three contests.
In the primary debates, Trump was on stage for a total of almost 24 hours and spoke for three hours, 20 minutes and seven seconds, a performance that “gives insights into how he could deal with Clinton and she can deal with him,’’ says Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan and editor of a new book titled Debating the Donald.
If nothing else, Trump’s primary debates proved him a master of what Alan Schroeder, another expert on presidential debates, calls “the well-executed moment.”
Political wisdom holds that multi-candidate primary debates and one-on-one general election debates are so different that the former can’t tell handicappers or candidates what to expect in the latter.
The audience is generally less vocal and less partisan. There are no commercial breaks. And it’s one-on-one. In her 16-year political career, Clinton has debated
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hurtle toward their first debate Monday night, facing crucial tests about whether the often-brash Republican nominee can demonstrate the temperament and policy expertise to serve as president and whether Clinton can overcome trust questions with voters that have dogged her for years.
Trump’s allies said the real estate mogul is eager to address substantive policy issues, even as top campaign officials worked Sunday to tamp down the potential for offstage fireworks initiated by Trump suggesting on Twitter that Gennifer Flowers would attend the showdown at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Flowers said she had an affair with Bill Clinton when he was Arkansas governor.
Clinton’s aides worried publicly that Trump, a wealthy TV star making his first bid for public office, would be held to a lower standard on the debate stage than Clinton, a former secretary of State who has spent decades in public life. “I’m very concerned that Donald Trump will be graded on a curve,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
“Just because he doesn’t fly off the handle in the middle of the debate doesn’t mean that he’s prepared to be president of the United States,” he said. “He needs to have coherent answers to the questions. He needs to demonstrate a command of the issues. And he needs to roll out specific plans about how he’s going to make life better for Americans.”
Despite Trump’s suggestion he would invite Flowers to the event, Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, said there’s “no plan” for Trump to raise Bill Clinton’s past infidelity.
“But the fact is that he has every right to defend himself. You know, he’s always constantly attacked, and then the moment he counterpunches, then people are just shocked that he would do that,” Conway said of Trump. “But he will answer the questions. We certainly hope that the questions go to policy.”
The stakes are high for Monday night’s showdown, the first of three debates in an increasingly tight race for the presidency. Both camps expect high viewership with a TV audience that could top the record 80 million who watched Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan debate in 1980.
A new poll shows the two meeting on the debate stage Monday in a near dead heat. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has the support of 46% of likely voters and Trump 44% in a Wash
ington Post- ABC News poll. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein were at 5% and 1%, respectively.
The poll shows 17% of voters are undecided, six weeks before Election Day.
“There’s still a large number of people who could sway this election,” said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist who oversees polling at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “A oneliner that sticks, a gaffe, something they do that’s provocative. All of that has the possibility of changing the dynamics of this race.”