Vice President Kamala Harris is doing all she can to prepare for her debate against former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s “highly choreographed” practice sessions include a stage, TV lighting, and an adviser impersonating the 45th president, according to The New York Times, quite the contrast to how Trump is gearing up for Tuesday’s showdown.
Philippe Reines, a former deputy assistant secretary of state and senior advisor to Hillary Clinton, is the stand-in for Trump in mock debates ahead of the real thing on September 10.
This is the second time he has played the role after acting as Trump in Clinton’s own preparations in September 2016, and he takes the job seriously.
“I dressed up like him, but I didn’t put on an orange face or a wig,” Reines told The Michael Smerconish Program on Sirius.
“Although one day I put self-tanner on one half of my face and no one noticed, so I didn’t bother again.” (The Independent)
Trump's practice sessions, meanwhile, are not even called “debate prep,” but “policy time,” which serves to remind him about his record. He has no Harris stand-in, just aides that hit questions back and forth, and he’s only held a handful of sessions thus far, reports the Times.
Harris is also steering clear of some previous attack strategies against Trump and will attempt to define herself, and not let Trump do it for her.
Unlike Mr. Biden, she has not focused squarely on portraying the former president as a fundamental threat to American democracy. She has tried to minimize him as a stale old act who is repeating his same tired playbook. And she has painted him as a rich guy who cares only about helping other rich guys — a populist line of attack that resonates with voters in focus groups.
Ms. Harris has also ditched Mrs. Clinton’s unsuccessful strategy of denouncing Mr. Trump as a racist and a misogynist. The vice president’s aides believe it’s a waste of time to tell voters what a terrible person Mr. Trump is, given how hard it is to find a voter who does not already have a fixed view of his character — good or bad. Instead, Ms. Harris is trying to connect with the thin slice of undecided voters who feel sour about the economy and worried about the future, and who want to hear what each candidate will do to improve their lives.
Ms. Harris and those advising her understand that the debate will be a race to define herself and her political brand before Mr. Trump can. (NYT)
BREAKING: Fox News reports The Harris Campaign has had to resort to bringing in a Donald Trump impersonator for Kamala Harris to use for debate prep at her hotel in Pittsburgh
— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) September 8, 2024
This must not be going well at all
She must really be struggling if they had to take it that far pic.twitter.com/uEciuQw0Li