Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will likely be the defining political event of the year, if not the decade. Nothing less than the direction of America will be on the line in November.
The candidates couldn’t be more diametrically opposed. Harris is a radical San Francisco leftist who wants nothing less than a wealth-redistribution-driven nanny state, open borders, strict gun control, and lax law enforcement.
Trump’s “America First” and “Make America Great Again” resonate with tens of millions of hard-working Middle Americans who see the values and morals of the country they grew up loving being eaten away by far-left politicians who are also hellbent on importing as many illegal aliens into this country as they can.
Yes, it’s all on the line.
In Trump’s case, what he says — and perhaps even more importantly, how he says it —will be paramount throughout the debate. He must stay on point. He must not ridicule Harris personally, call her sophomoric names, and appear to bully her. (That “man bullying a woman” thing will not play well with female voters.)
First and foremost for Harris, she must avoid her infamous word salads, avoid repeating demonstrable lies, and she must explain, in plain language, her multiple flip-flops, and her “I have changed some positions, but I haven’t changed my values” nonsense.
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Republican strategist Karl Rove believes Trump has the more difficult task because he’s the one running on substantive issues — as opposed to Harris’ vacuous “joy”-filled campaign. Which, again, is why the former president must stay on point. Can he do it? We will soon find out.
As I wrote on Monday, Trump campaign senior advisor Tim Murtaugh said on Monday that the former president wants to make Harris answer for her record in public office, beginning with her tenure as San Francisco district attorney and continuing through her rise to the vice presidency.
Kamala Harris will be made to defend her crazy liberal record. She will not be able to escape from it. By the end of this debate, everyone will know her record. That means that everything she did in her prior career leading up to this point is brought into the present day. That means she is the San Francisco liberal she always was. She’s just pretending not to be that.
Murtaugh was spot-on. Trump’s task will be to look presidential and stick to his game plan.
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As is usually the case in presidential debates, the candidates’ 2-minute closing statements will be critical. Trump’s closing statement will follow Harris’s, and as journalist Isaac Schorr believes, it will be the most important part of the debate. In fact, Schorr wrote, “Trump can win the debate — and the election — in two minutes.”
Schorr suggested that Trump’s closing statement “might look like.”
Do you remember when going to the grocery store and stopping at the gas station didn’t fill you with dread?
Do you remember when the news out of the Middle East was about our enemies being brought to heel and peace deals being forged?
Do you remember when our southern border wasn’t an international embarrassment?
It’s no coincidence the last time you remember any of this, I was your president.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris spent trillions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to drive up the prices of the things you and your families need to survive.
To add insult to injury, they called their expensive, mini Green New Deal — for which my opponent cast the tie-breaking vote — the Inflation Reduction Act.
Were they mocking you or lying to you?
The Biden-Harris administration exudes weakness and incompetence — and our enemies smell blood in the water.
Its reckless retreat from Afghanistan cost 13 American service members their lives and invited Russia’s war against Ukraine and Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel.
It deliberately opened our southern border after my administration spent years securing it, putting American citizens at risk.
Arizona, Harris cares more about what her San Francisco friends think about her immigration stance than the damage it’s done to you.
The administration keeps putting the screws on our energy producers, making you foot the bill for policies that empower our enemies abroad — and Pennsylvania, you’ll lose the jobs and wealth the fracking industry has created.
Enough is enough.
Kamala Harris ran for president four years ago on the most radical platform this country has ever seen.
Green New Deal? Of course. Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and defunding the police? Check. Fracking? Ban it. Your health insurance? She said it was as good as gone. Eighty percent tax rates? A “fantastic” idea.
Now she’s trying to backtrack, insisting she doesn’t believe anything she said four years ago.
And all that’s coming from the person who lied to your face about Joe Biden’s condition. She still insists he’s fit to be your commander in chief though each and every one of you knows he’s not.
Kamala Harris can’t serve you because she doesn’t have any respect for you.
She doesn’t think she owes you the truth — or much of anything else.
I’m not known for my humility, but I realize I’m not perfect and some of you may never like me for who I am.
In November, though, you should judge us both for what we’ve done.
I made you wealthier, safer and prouder to be an American.
Biden and Harris have left you poorer, less safe and less proud.
While Schorr had the advantage of thinking it through while sitting at his computer and writing it, Trump (and Harris) will be on stage with no notes — a distinct advantage for the former president, who’s also a far better extemporaneous speaker than Harris.
That said, Trump has high-stakes debate experience and Harris is a target-rich environment.
Yep, my money’s on The Donald.
