The Republican nominee has tutors such as Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz prepping him for the biggest debate of his life. Donald Trump has only one shot at looking good against Kamala Harris as it’s highly questionable that there will be a second or third debate. And that will be his decision after he falls resoundingly on his ass. Trump crashed and burned in the 2020 debates with Joe Biden. Plus the June 27, 2024 debate, while declared a disaster for Biden, did not show Trump up to any great advantage. He messed up constantly. It was Biden’s faint voice and continuous gaffes that proved his undoing, but that does not mean that Trump was any shining light. Au contraire. He was pathetic. The difference that night is that people are used to seeing Trump be pathetic, that’s his baseline. They expected better from President Biden.
So now Trump has to debate Kamala Harris and he vows to come out swinging because he “hates his opponents.” The Bulwark is running a piece which is bound to have explosive repercussions. I can hear the cries of “fake news” echoing through the canyons. But The Bulwark is comprised of Never Trumpers and former Republicans and they do have the connections to other Republicans. So I’m inclined to believe what this columnist says and that Trump is this mentally ill.
“This is just the way I am. I hate my opponent. I hate my opponents,” Trump told a confidant who advised the former president to consider backing away from calling the vice president “stupid” or “dumb” at their high-profile standoff in a few weeks, which he has done repeatedly.
Trump explained to the confidant that he’s treating Harris the same way he did Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. “Hillary, Joe, Kamala. It doesn’t matter. I just hate them.”
To another adviser, Trump was blunt about taking on Harris: “I’m going to be mean.” […]
The fate of Trump’s campaign could depend on just how tough and personal he’ll be onstage during that debate, and how Harris responds to his attacks.
Trump’s early discussions about how to approach his debate with Harris—shared with The Bulwark on condition of anonymity by those who have spoken to him—mark a shift from his successful June 27 debate against Biden.
Again, Trump was not successful in that debate, as “success” in a debate is usually defined. He didn’t score big factually, he didn’t find openings to make himself sound the more accomplished, the more credible, to take over the night. Trump was just being his monotonous boring, bombastic self while Joe Biden was having an awful night. But June 27 was no “win” for Trump and if he thinks it was, then he might really fall on his ass on September 10.
Trump advisers recognize that he’s committed to being aggressive and personal, and, as such, they are not attempting to sell him on the virtue of being Mr. Nice Guy at the September standoff. But some want him to tone down the assaults on Harris’s intelligence because it could turn off swing voters and set the bar exceedingly low for the vice president.
“If Harris is an idiot and she holds her own, then you could have two idiots on stage,” a Trump insider fretted. “Call her ideas stupid. Don’t call her stupid.”
Marc Short, a former top Trump administration official who prepared Vice President Mike Pence for his 2020 debate against Harris, said Pence made sure to not make it personal.
“You can’t get around the fact that having a white male debate a minority female creates a different dynamic,” said Short. “And you’re always sensitive to the media saying you’re ‘mansplaining’ if you get into a conversation in which you appear to try to put down your opponent. That’s always delicate. Trump doesn’t do delicate well.”
No he does not. Most low lifes don’t. My sense of it is that Trump is scared to death of Kamala and that he’ll probably make a complete ass of himself and in comical fashion. I would be very surprised if it happens any other way. He’s not going to stick to policy, he’s “going to be mean.” “Mean” I think, translates as 1. name calling; 2. lying about conversations he never had (i.e. with Willie Brown); 3. lying about things Kamala never did. (Like claiming she has some effect on the stock market.)
What I’m hoping for from this debate is the Association Of Black Journalists on steroids. If Trump can make as sublime an ass of himself onstage on September 10, like he did in Chicago last month, it will be something to behold. That’s what I predict will happen. Trump is not an original thinker, so look for him to repeat his mistakes of the past and then some. And bear in mind, when he goes on stage September 10, if the fundraising trends and the polls continue how they have been, Trump will walk in a defeated shell of a man. Maybe this will be Trump’s Waterloo.
hope he doesn’t claim he has covid
There’s still time for him to weasel out. If he shows, and tries the intimidation route like he did with Hillary, good phucking luck. You should know doughnut ass that career prosecutors are the LAST people to try that with. That being said, since he’s a legend in his own mind, I expect him to act like a royal ass on his way to being royally phucked. Go on down into that valley General Custer!
I can almost hear “The Ghost of Daddy” telling his son like Dean Wermer in Animal House, “Fat, dumb and crazy is no way to end your life, son”.
von shitzinpants is the little bully from kindergarten who was spoiled since birth and never taught anything approaching decent behavior. He grew up to be…a spoiled little kindergarten bully never taught anything approaching decent behavior. Of course he never learned anything over the years so the debate stage against an intelligent lady is not going to end well for him.
I’m certain V.P. Harris knows how to deal with idiot criminals–she has dealt with them most of her career and has done so harshly. von shitzi is going to be reduced to a puddle of fecal matter.
I think Kamala while give a master class on how to deal with this disgusting piece of garbage. And once again, tRump gets schooled by a POC female prosecuter. Should be humiliating for him, and sounds like justice to me. Take him down, Kamala!
I wonder if he, like the criminal former attorney General bullfrog Barr, will struggle with what a word like ‘suggest’ means. Oh, I forgot…it’s more than 4 letters, so of course he will.