PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are taking sharply different approaches to preparing for Tuesday’s presidential debate, setting up a showdown that not only reflects two distinct visions for the country, but also two politicians who approach a pivotal moment very differently.
The vice president is holed up in a historic downtown Pittsburgh hotel, where she can focus on crafting a two-minute, concise response under debate rules. She has been working with aides since Thursday to select a location where the Democratic nominee can mingle with swing-state voters.
Republican candidate Trump has publicly denied the value of studying for a debate. The former president has filled his day with campaign-related events under the assumption that he will know what to do when he gets on stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
“You can go in there with all the strategy you want, but you have to feel like it’s happening during the debate,” he said during a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Trump quoted former boxer Mike Tyson, who said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Harris said she was prepared for Trump to use insults and distort facts, but she saw value in her campaign’s focus on the middle class and a better future for the country.
“You have to be prepared for the fact that he’s not afraid to tell the truth,” Harris said in a radio interview on the Rickey Smiley Morning Show. “He has a tendency to fight for himself rather than for the American people, and I think that’s going to come out in the debates.”
Harris has cast Democratic consultant Philip Reines, a longtime Hillary Clinton aide, as Trump in her preparations. She likes to portray Trump as having a “playbook” of lies to attack Democrats like Clinton and former President Barack Obama.
Harris said she understood Trump on a deeper psychological level. In speeches like hers at the Democratic National Convention, she tried to show that she could be a stronger leader than Trump, an argument that attacked Trump’s desire to project and demonstrate power.
Trump’s June 27 debate with President Joe Biden swung the election, and Biden’s dismal performance ultimately led him to drop out of the Democratic race and endorse Harris. Both camps know that the first face-to-face meeting between Harris and Trump could be a defining event in a tight race.
Trump has been proactive in criticizing ABC News debate moderators, saying they won’t be treated fairly. But he said he plans to let Harris speak, as she did during her debate with Biden.
“I’ll let him talk. I’ll let her talk,” he said during the Hannity town hall.
Trump aides say the debate will be no different from previous ones, with the former president no longer doing traditional preparations. There will be no stand-ins, no sets, no theatrics.
Instead, they pointed to Trump’s frequent interview routines, including taking questions at lengthy press conferences, appearing on hours-long podcasts and participating in debates with affable hosts like Hannity.
Trump also meets regularly with policy advisers who are experts on issues that could come up during the debate. During these informal sessions, they talk about the issues, the policies Trump implemented while in office, and the plans he has laid out for a second term.
“I have meetings about it. We talk about it. But there’s not much you can do. You either know your subject or you don’t. You either have good policy or you don’t,” he said in a New Hampshire radio interview.
Before the last debate, Trump had sessions with prominent Republicans like Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who was then being considered as Trump’s vice presidential candidate. This time, he had a session with former Democratic congresswoman and current Trump-endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard, who is also a member of Trump’s transition team, was brought in specifically to help Trump this time around because she knows Harris, having debated her when they ran together for the 2020 Democratic nomination. She also recently held a town hall with Trump in Wisconsin.
Trump is trying to put Harris on the defensive, aides argue. He wants to portray her as too liberal while tying her to Biden’s economic record, and points to her backtracking on issues like the fracking ban, which she no longer supports.
“We look forward to the opportunity for the American people to see her on stage. She cannot defend her policies and flip-flop,” said Caroline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman. “The president has proven that he can control issues, and she does not.”
Harris’s team is hoping that Trump will be seen as extreme and that the debates will serve as a springboard to build on the momentum her short campaign has built. The campaign plans to use the weekend before the debate to hold 2,000 events with volunteers and reach more than 1 million voters.
“With hundreds of offices and thousands of staff in battleground states, we can capitalize on every topic at the debate and reach hard-to-reach voters,” Dan Kaninen, the campaign’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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