Former President Donald Trump is once again brushing aside traditional debate preparations as his first match against Vice President Kamala Harris approaches, reverting to a similar strategy of policy meetings with advisers and a series of interviews and town halls.
In the week leading up to the Sept. 10 ABC News debate, Trump was on campaign trail for a town hall in Pennsylvania, gave an economic address in New York and will hold a rally in Wisconsin this weekend. His campaign said the former president sees talking to voters is a form of debate prep, too.
“Our debate and prep is every day. It’s called Donald Trump talking to voters,” one Trump campaign adviser said.
Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes told ABC News that because Trump gives “dozens of unscripted interviews and can stand with reporters unscripted for hours at a time, he doesn’t need staff cheat codes to go into a debate.”
“He is reviewing policy with advisers,” Hughes said, adding that Trump is “always prepared to discuss his successful time as president.”
During a town hall event Wednesday with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump said he was “gonna let [Harris] talk” in the debate.
“When I had [President Joe] Biden, you and I had the same discussion. And I let him talk. I’m gonna let her talk,” Trump told Hannity when asked how he will respond to Harris when she tries to get under his skin.
In the last three weeks, Trump has only done two events that the campaign has described as rallies out of the nearly dozen campaign stops he has had — a break in the campaign’s traditional style.
The campaign instead has been persistent with scheduling more smaller-scale, policy-focused speeches and participating in moderated discussion panels with allies. During these events, Trump has worked to fine-tune his attacks on Harris, though, at times, he often struggled to stay on topic.
Trump and his campaign have long strayed from mock-style debates, and say that despite having a different challenger, his method remains the same. Rather, in between campaign stops, Trump and his campaign have been focusing on nailing down several different policy areas, a similar strategy to how he approached the June debate against Biden.
Trump had limited outbursts and personal attacks on the debate stage against Biden in June, and his campaign said he will focus on a similar strategy against Harris. Still, Trump has not held back on the trail, lobbing personal attacks at Harris.
The campaign has also tapped former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who recently endorsed Trump, for debate preparations. Campaign advisers took note of Gabbard’s debate performance against Harris and Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary, and made headlines at the time for taking aim at Harris’ record as a prosecutor.
In public comments over the weekend, Gabbard offered insight into the types of tactics she would advise Trump about ahead of next week’s debate, warning that Harris should not be “underestimated.” The former president has previously said he thinks debating Harris will be “easier” than Biden.
“I think Kamala Harris has a lot of experience. She’s not to be underestimated. President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have very different records,” Gabbard said.
She argued that Trump should focus on Harris’ flip-flops, which “will be an opportunity for voters to look at and compare and contrast those records.”
“It really is just sharing the experience that I have with her on that debate stage in 2020 and frankly, helping to point out some ways that Kamala Harris has already shown that she is trying to move away from her record, move away from her positions, and how that contradicts the positions and statements that she is making now that she is the Democratic nominee,” Gabbard said.
Trump also recently sat down for a town hall with Gabbard in Wisconsin, answering questions from voters on issues such as the economy, immigration and national security.
As the Trump campaign tries to focus on Harris’ record, another attack anticipated on the debate stage is the distinction that Harris is currently serving in the White House and can make policy decisions now.
“That’s one of the points that I will make all the time. Do it. You can do it right now,” Trump claimed in an interview with the Daily Mail last month.
The ABC News debate will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m ET. A prime-time pre-debate special will air at 8 p.m. ET.
