Tipsheet

Scott Jennings Offers Key Advice for Trump on Eve of Debate

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  September 09, 2024 8:45 PM

On Monday afternoon, a little more than 24 hours before former and potentially future President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in the ABC News debate, CNN's Scott Jennings offered some key advice for Trump.

Jennings, a senior political commentator for the network, suggested that Trump focus his answers to questions on "one core issue," which is that he's the candidate for change, especially in comparison to the sitting vice president. 

"I would just advise him to answer all questions going back to one core issue: if you want change, I am the change. If you want change on the economy, I am the change. If you want change on the border, I am the change," Jennings pointed out. Speaking about Harris, Jennings also shared that "the only change she is is changing all of her positions in a craven effort to try to make you think she's not some radical liberal." He also cautioned Trump to not "take the bait" from a question or from Harris, and again emphasized the idea to "bring it back to one core issue."

This speaks further to how Trump has hope to win the election in November, as Jennings reminded that "people are not happy with the current administration, [Harris] is in the administration [and] she represents a continuation of the same." 

That, Jennings spoke further to, is why Trump engaging in anything "that gets off that track is really a lost minute or lost 10 minutes or however long it takes you to do it." He again emphasized his advice for Trump to "stick with change and you'll be all right."

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Later in the segment, Jennings also spoke further to how Harris has to "unwind all of her past positions that she ran on before," as well as "unwind on all the things she helped Joe Biden do, which of course caused the American people to sour on this administration."

He again spoke to this "change election," as what Trump's "core mission" should be and how Americans see him as the change candidate on the economy and immigration. "Those are the top two [issues] that [Trump] should be focused on," Jennings believes. 

"'She's more of the same, I'm change,' and however he gets from A to B, that's the strategy he needs to go for," is how Jennings summarized what Trump's "core mission" should be when debating Harris.

When it comes to that poll from The New York Times/Siena College that Jennings referenced, Trump leads Harris with 48-47 percent among likely voters. The poll also found that 55 percent of likely voters consider Harris to represent "more of the same" while 53 percent consider Trump to represent a "major change." 

When it comes to those top issues of the economy and immigration, Trump enjoys double digit support on who likely voters trust more. A majority, at 55 percent, say they trust Trump more on the economy, while 42 percent trust Harris more. Fifty-three percent say they trust Trump more on immigration, while 43 percent say they trust Harris more. 

A plurality, at 47 percent, also believe that Harris is "too liberal or progressive."

The Trump-Vance campaign sent out a memo on Monday afternoon that also referenced that poll from The New York Times/Siena College, "Kamala Set Herself up for Tough Debate — It’s a High Bar to Clear."

"Now that her honeymoon is over, the debate will be the first time Kamala will answer tough questions. In doing so, Kamala Harris will be revealed to America as a Radical Left lunatic," the memo also noted in part.

The memo spoke further of change, and how Harris had claimed during her CNN interview in late August that her values have not changed:

Harris said in her one and only interview on CNN that her values haven’t changed. So that means in tomorrow night’s debate, Harris needs to:

  • Square with the voters how if her values haven’t changed, why she is trying to run away from her dangerously liberal record and previous positions.
  • Convince voters to trust her to make their lives more affordable, despite casting the deciding vote on the two key pieces of legislation that even liberal economists say caused the record high inflation they are experiencing.
  • As the chief cheerleader for Bidenomics, she needs to convince voters how Bidenomics is working despite everything being significantly more expensive than under President Trump.
  • And she needs to convince voters that she will actually follow through on her promises when she could have done any of the promises over the past 3.5 years and didn’t.

The memo noted it's "an awfully high bar" for the 90-minute debate.