WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing for her highly anticipated Sept. 10 debate with Donald Trump by focusing on ways to unnerve the Republican candidate and draw attention to his frequent falsehoods on policies and recent history, all with an eye toward social media, aides and advisers say.
Harris, the Democratic nominee, last appeared on a debate stage in 2020 against then-Vice President Mike Pence, a night heavy on policy discussions and punctuated by Harris’ rebuke of Pence’s interruptions, yet probably remembered by most American voters for the fly that photobombed the event.
This time, Harris plans to focus on what her team calls Trump’s failures on the U.S. border wall, infrastructure and the COVID-19 pandemic, while hoping to avoid getting pulled into personal attacks, they said.
For their part, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have attacked Harris and President Joe Biden for inflation, the high number of illegal immigrants crossing on the U.S. southern border and economic proposals they say will drive up government spending. More COVID deaths occurred during Biden’s term than Trump’s, after Biden lost political battles over masking and vaccines.
Trump’s personal attacks on Harris have escalated as she has edged ahead of him in national opinion polls since Biden was pushed out of the presidential race on July 21 after a disastrous performance in the June debate.
Harris has delivered a handful of policy-focused speeches but U.S. voters will be watching closely for more details.
“Independents in swing states still need and want to hear more detailed policy proposals from her,” said Republican strategist Rina Shah. “She will also need to hit back at Trump … with facts, figures, and data on what he got wrong during his administration.”
How Harris interacts with Trump, who has repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 election, is another point of interest.
“She should let him talk over her. Not just let him, but goad him into spouting insane conspiracy theories about the previous election,” veteran Democratic strategist James Carville wrote in a New York Times opinion article on Wednesday.
Harris’ team believes the debate will be watched by many as video clips on social media platforms like TikTok and X, and will be looking for ways to create moments that people want to share. That includes trying to push Trump into saying things he shouldn’t say, two sources said, such as potentially inflammatory or offensive remarks.