Harris, on the other hand, disagrees and has been complaining about Trump’s reluctance to participate in a debate that she, with the help of the media, never arranged. The vice president wants everything served to her immediately, without any thought or debate—just like she did with the Democratic Party candidacy. Up to this point, Trump has decided not to comply.
But should he? For me, this is an opportunity to upstage Harris in a way that will catch her entirely off guard.
Maintaining the Fox News discussion is the first step in the plan. Make Harris and those in charge of her repeatedly reject it. This will show that she is too afraid to enter a place that doesn’t exist for her own safety.
Naturally, Harris will not appear. When she doesn’t, Trump should use the entire ninety-minute session to criticize her policies and reiterate that she will not submit to any harsh questioning. The takeaway for tonight will be that Harris backed off. After that, there are six days to further emphasize the issue, including running advertisements pointing out her absence before the ABC News debate.
All the points mentioned above are quite clear. I would anticipate the same outcome regardless of the circumstances. This is where it gets heated, though. After announcing all week that he wouldn’t be attending the ABC News debate due to Harris’s retreat, the former president ought to proudly declare that he would go anyhow on the morning of the event.
That accomplishes two goals. It catches her off guard by abruptly changing the script for what Harris was expecting to be a cordial, one-sided chat. Additionally, it forces ABC News to grant Trump’s last-minute appearance. In the event that they don’t, he wins the evening silently. However, I have a suspicion that they would, which gives Trump the opportunity to start a discussion by making it clear that, while Hillary runs from difficult issues, he is prepared to go anywhere.
This strategy, of course, depends on Trump being ready and doing well for the remainder of the evening, but there’s a chance to take Harris by surprise. He may have the entire conversation to himself, calling her a coward for almost a week, and then deny her the opportunity to raise the same argument. That may be the time to reclaim the momentum, as Harris is probably going to get a boost after the DNC in August.
