Trump confronts his ‘weak spot’ at the debate

Former President Donald Trump is already underwater by double digits with female voters in the polls.

Now Trump will stand on stage next to a woman he has publicly and privately derided in language widely viewed as sexist. His allies hope he doesn’t make things worse when he squares off against Vice President Kamala Harris at the debate.

In past debates against Hillary Clinton, Trump tried to undermine, belittle or humiliate both her and female debate moderators. This time, his advisers have pushed him to focus on Harris’ record and try not to let her get under his skin. And while he has recently claimed his administration “will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” he has stumbled over questions about abortion and child care, and spent the Friday before the presidential debate railing against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

Trump’s performance with female voters is “the weak spot in his campaign right now,” said former Trump campaign adviser David Urban. “I think he can attack her policies without attacking her. And that’s the kind of needle he has to thread. You can attack the vice president of the United States for her failed policies without attacking the woman.”

But Urban predicted the debate format — with microphones turned off while each other is speaking — will work to Trump’s advantage.

“She’s not going to have her moment where she can say ‘I’m trying to speak,’ like she did with [former Vice President Mike] Pence. You’re not going to have those awkward moments like that,” Urban said, adding that Trump showed in the first debate with [President Joe] Biden he can be “disciplined.”

Despite the microphones preventing Trump from interrupting Harris, some of Trump’s allies and aides are concerned that the vice president will push the former president into losing his cool.

ale surrogates out on the campaign trail for Trump.

Harris, in a break from Clinton, the first female Democratic presidential nominee, has not prominently emphasized her gender in her campaign. The vice president, as a Black woman and an Indian American woman, is not heavily promoting the other history-making elements of her campaign, either, instead touting her middle-class upbringing and record as a prosecutor.

The vice president’s aides and allies have also been strategic in responding to Trump’s race- and gender-based attacks, denouncing his rhetoric but pivoting quickly so as to not distract from the policy issues. Trump’s tactics have proven to be effective in the past at absorbing the political oxygen, often forcing his opponents to spend time on the defense instead of on the issues.

“I think that Kamala Harris has handled these sorts of attacks in an incredibly effective way, which is to call them out for what they are. ‘A tired old playbook,’ right? These attacks are of the past, it’s him trying to go backwards and then to use it to pivot into what she will do,” said Christina Reynolds, the senior vice president of communications at EMILY’s List who worked on Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

It’s an approach Harris is expected to deploy during the debate. Aides and advisers say she won’t ignore the attacks, but work to pull the debate back to policy and the overarching message of her campaign — her argument that Trump is looking to take the country backward. It’s a strategy she used during a recent CNN interview, when she brushed off Trump questioning her racial identity as the “same old tired playbook.”

“The way that she’s been handling it up until now has been pitch-perfect. Don’t take the bait. That’s much harder to do when you’re standing five feet from the man,” said Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign manager. “I don’t think it will serve her angle if she takes the bait.”

To get ready to square off against Harris, his team has also brought in former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who debated Harris during the 2020 Democratic primary, and has helped the former president prepare to debate a woman again. Gabbard has described how she has also provided insight into her own experience debating Harris.

During the 2019 debate, Gabbard assailed Harris over her record as a prosecutor in San Francisco and as attorney general of California in what was seen as a standout moment — and one that was widely viewed as blocking Harris’ momentum in the primary. Harris dropped out before voting even started in Iowa.

Gabbard, like many of Trump’s allies and advisers, has said that Harris will try to “get under his skin and deflect,” and Trump should focus on policy.

“President Trump is very focused on communicating his record of success and how he will continue to put forward policies that I think a lot of women are very concerned about,” Gabbard told reporters on a call Monday afternoon previewing the debate. “President Trump respects women and doesn’t feel the need to be patronizing and to speak to women in any other way than he speaks to a man. So, he is speaking to the American people. He is speaking to Kamala Harris’ record and preparing and contrasting that with his record of success.”

Harris’ not-so-secret weapon in confronting Trump is Karen Dunn, who Democratic advisers and people close to the vice president describe as a full-fledged member of the very small club of Democratic debate prep experts. Helping Dunn lead the prep has been Rohini Kosoglu, a longtime Harris policy adviser who has expanded her portfolio in recent weeks due to her 360-degree view of her operation.

Dunn, a powerful lawyer who has represented Amazon, Uber, Apple, Google and Oracle, previously helped oversee debate prep for Barack Obama and Clinton, whose loss in 2016 she described as emotionally devastating. Dunn first linked up with Harris for her 2020 debate against Pence, then began working with her again this spring, when the vice president assembled a small team of her own aides and some who had advised Biden to start brainstorming for what they expected would become the vice presidential debate. Since Trump was still months away from selecting JD Vance, Harris’ team envisioned Trump when they started planning what Harris wanted to say and who she contrasted with.

Harris’ team says she has to offer persistent checks on Trump’s anticipated lies and personal slights, while appearing presidential herself. She also will look for opportunities to present herself as the “change candidate,” including articulating what she plans to do in the White House.

“She’s a strong debater and a very good orator — very good at making her points,” said Ron Klain, the former White House chief of staff and another debate guru.

In their first debate in 2016, Clinton remained relatively even-keeled, calling out Trump for his record of misogynistic comments as he became increasingly agitated. By their second matchup, the debate opened with Trump having to explain his “Access Hollywood” remarks, and he attempted to pivot by tying Clinton to her husband’s indiscretions with women. And in final debate, Trump deployed his “nasty woman” attack against Clinton — a phrase that then became a rallying cry for some feminist anti-Trump voters. CNN’s post-debate snap polls showed Clinton winning all three, though the positive reviews of her performance — and her on-stage contrast with Trump — ultimately didn’t cost him the election.

Trump has repeatedly reverted to personal attacks since Harris’ elevation, from questioning her racial identity at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in July to using her first name as a way to strip her of her credentials.

“He doesn’t do well with strong, smart, powerful women of color. When he gets his back up, that’s where he goes — the nasty personal attacks,” said Karen Finney, a former top Clinton aide.

Trump has been loath to describe his work ahead of the debate as “debate prep,” with he and his aides instead describing time on his schedule to get ready for Tuesday as “policy sessions.” Just like he did ahead of his debate with Biden earlier this summer, no one has stood in to act as Harris, and he hasn’t done any mock debates at lectern.

Instead, his team has carved out time in his schedule to go over specific policy areas and focus on parts of Harris’ record — in particular her shifting policies and her record in California.

Among those preparing Trump are his top campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, Jason Miller, Stephen Miller, his speechwriters Vince Haley and Ross Worthington, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

Trump, according to advisers, also views his frequent media interviews and rallies as its own kind of debate prep.

“Kamala Harris’ people have had her hiding for the last two months,” said Jason Miller. “You can’t prepare for President Trump. There’s just no way to do it. Imagine it’s like a boxer trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather or Muhammad Ali, you just don’t know what angle they’re going to come at you with.”

Natalie Allison contributed to this report.