Harris, Trump prepping for debate but their strategies are vastly different

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are veering sharply in how they gear up for Tuesday’s presidential debate, setting up a showdown that reflects not just two separate visions for the country but two politicians who approach big moments very differently.

Harris spent the weekend cloistered in a historic hotel in downtown Pittsburgh where she focused on honing crisp two-minute answers, per the debate’s rules.

Meanwhile, Trump has publicly dismissed the value of studying for the debate. The former president is choosing instead to fill his days with campaign-related events.

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Here’s the latest:

Harris arrives in Philadelphia ahead of debate

Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon, saying she’s feeling “good” ahead of her Tuesday debate with Donald Trump.

Harris crossed Pennsylvania after having spent several days at a downtown Pittsburgh hotel preparing for the showdown. As her motorcade left Pittsburgh, reporters spotted long-time Democratic aide Philippe Reines, who portrayed Trump in the mock debates and was seen in a Trump-like Navy suit and bright red tie.

Trump's unpredictability is an advantage, his campaign says

Donald Trump’s campaign says his unpredictability will give him a major leg up in Tuesday’s debate.

“You can’t prepare for President Trump. There’s just no way to do it,” senior campaign adviser Jason Miller told reporters during a call on Monday, comparing the challenge facing Vice President Kamala Harris to “a boxer trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather or Muhmmad Ali.”

“You just, you don’t know what angle they’re going to come at you with,” he said.

Still, aides said, Trump will be focused on trying to tie Harris to the least popular Biden administration policies. Trump will try to blame her not only for border, inflation and foreign policy decisions, but other things that happened while she was in office, such as the catastrophic fire in Maui last year.

“Kamala Harris owns everything from this administration,” Miller said.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who competed against Harris in the 2020 Democratic primaries and has been helping Trump prepare, said that his tone will not change this time because he is facing a woman.

“President Trump respects women and doesn’t feel the need to be patronizing or to speak to women in any other way than he would speak to a man," she said. “So he is speaking to the American people, he is speaking to Kamala Harris’ record, and comparing and contrasting that with his record of success.”

Kennedy will stay on battleground Michigan’s ballot, court rules

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the ballot in the battleground state, potentially dealing a marginal blow to Trump’s campaign.

Kennedy, who suspended his third-party presidential campaign in August, had sought to have his name dropped from the ballot so as to not siphon away votes from Trump, whom he endorsed. Kennedy sued the Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, on Aug. 30, and the case quickly made it’s way to the state Supreme Court.

“This plainly has nothing to do with ballot or election integrity,” Kennedy’s attorney Aaron Siri said in a written statement. “The aim is precisely the opposite — to have unwitting Michigan voters throw away their votes on a withdrawn candidate.”

▶ Read more on the Michigan court decision

Trump shows support for reclassifying marijuana as less dangerous drug

Trump signaled support for reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug in a post on his social media platform late Sunday, putting his position in line with that of Harris.

The commonality reflects a major shift toward broad public support for legalization in recent years and marks the first time that both major-party presidential candidates support broad cannabis reform, according to the U.S. Cannabis Council.

Coming shortly before the two will meet for a pivotal debate, Trump’s post sets up the possibility that he could criticize Harris for her past cannabis prosecutions when she was district attorney in San Francisco. Because drug prosecutions disproportionately affect nonwhite defendants in the U.S., the line of attack could also fit with Trump’s efforts to increase his support among nonwhite men.

Harris backs decriminalization and has called it “absurd” that the Drug Enforcement Administration now has marijuana in the Schedule I category alongside heroin and LSD. Earlier in her career, she oversaw the enforcement of cannabis laws and opposed legalized recreational use for adults in California while running for attorney general in 2010.

▶ Read more about Trump’s stance on marijuana

Nation’s top election security official expressed confidence in this year’s election

Speaking in Detroit, Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told a gathering of local election officials from around the country Monday that she was inspired by their commitment to overseeing “safe, secure, free, fair elections.”

She said their tireless efforts also should give Americans confidence that every vote will be “counted as cast.”

Easterly acknowledged that election offices are facing numerous threats, from cybersecurity to intimidation of their workers. But she said their extensive preparations will ensure “that we are ready for whatever lies ahead.”

President Biden plans to watch the debate between Harris and Trump

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would be watching Tuesday from New York, where he’s traveling ahead of the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Biden’s disastrous performance in the June 27 debate with Trump touched off a chorus of calls by fellow Democrats for him to step aside in the 2024 presidential race. He did about a month later. Harris became the Democratic nominee and she’ll face Trump this time. Jean-Pierre said Biden was very proud of his vice president.

The debate begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

Grief over Gaza and qualms over US election add up to anguish for many Palestinian Americans

Demoralized by the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian American Samia Assed found in Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascension — and her running mate pick — “a little ray of hope.”

That hope, she said, shattered during last month’s Democratic National Convention, where a request for a Palestinian American speaker was denied and listening to Harris left her feeling like the Democratic presidential nominee will continue the U.S. policies that have outraged many in the anti-war camp.

“I couldn’t breathe because I felt unseen and erased,” said Assed, a community organizer in New Mexico.

Under different circumstances, Assed would have reveled in the groundbreaking rise of a woman of color as her party’s nominee. Instead, she agonizes over her ballot box options.

For months, many Palestinian Americans have been contending with the double whammy of the rising Palestinian death toll and suffering in Gaza and their own government’s support for Israel in the war. Alongside pro-Palestinian allies, they’ve grieved, organized, lobbied and protested as the killings and destruction unfolded on their screens or touched their own families. Now, they also wrestle with tough, deeply personal voting decisions, including in battleground states.

▶ Read more about Palestinian Americans and the election

What the Trump-Clinton debates might tell us about Trump’s approach with Harris

He claimed she would raise taxes and accused her of supporting open border policies that would allow an influx of unvetted migrants into the country. He blamed her for a litany of the current administration’s failures and cast her potential presidency as four more years of the same.

Donald Trump wasn’t facing Vice President Kamala Harris. It was Hillary Clinton on the debate stage.

As Trump and Harris prepare to debate for the first — and potentially only — time Tuesday, his three meetings with Clinton in 2016 illustrate the challenges facing both candidates in what is again shaping up to be an extremely close election.

Harris will face a skilled and experienced debater who excels at rattling his rivals with a barrage of insults and interruptions, while projecting unflappable confidence and conviction.

And Trump will be up against a longtime prosecutor known for landing pointed punches. He again faces a woman who would become the country’s first female president and must contend with the underlying gender dynamics at play.

▶ Read more about what the Trump-Clinton debate says about Trump’s style

Harris campaign plans for aggressive outreach in swing states after the debate

Vice President Kamala Harris plans a four-day campaign trip through major swing states after the Democrat’s debate Tuesday with Republican Donald Trump.

Her “New Way Forward” tour will include a new television spot, rallies, canvassing events and programs designed to target important voting groups, the campaign said Sunday, adding that the tour will culminate at the start of Hispanic Heritage Month on Sept. 15.

In a tight race against the former president, the Harris campaign sees itself as having the room to persuade voters before focusing more intently on turnout with the beginning of early voting before the Nov. 5 election. Trump has also stepped up his outreach with rallies and interviews in seemingly friendly forums.

▶ Read more about Harris’s post-debate plans

Little debate that Pennsylvania is key as Harris and Trump prep for Philly showdown

When Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet onstage Tuesday night in Philadelphia, they’ll both know there’s little debate that Pennsylvania is critical to their chances of winning the presidency.

The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November.

A loss in the state will make it difficult to make up the electoral votes elsewhere to win the presidency. Trump and Harris have been frequent visitors in recent days — Harris plans to return Friday — and the former president was speaking in Butler County on July 14 when he was the target of an assassination attempt.

The stakes may be especially high for Harris: No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania since 1948.

▶ Read more about Pennsylvania’s role in this election

What Harris’ past debates say about her potential approach to Trump

From her earliest campaigns in California to her serving as President Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris has honed an aggressive but calibrated approach to debates.

She tries to blend punch lines with details that build toward a broader narrative. She might shake her head to signal her disapproval while her opponent is speaking, counting on viewers to see her reaction on a split screen.

And she has a go-to tactic to pivot debates back in her favor: saying she’s glad to answer a question as she gathers her thoughts to explain an evolving position or defend a past one.

▶ Read more about Harris’ debate style

In new Harris ad, former Trump officials warn of dangers if he gets a second term

A new Harris campaign ad airing running on Fox News on the day of the presidential debate features former Trump officials warning of what they say are the dangers of a second Donald Trump presidency.

The ad is running in Philadelphia and West Palm Beach, Florida — where Trump lives — on Tuesday.

It features clips from former Vice President Mike Pence saying he would not be endorsing Trump. Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley all warn against the Republican.

The presidential debate begins at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday on ABC.

Look out for wild card Trump

If you ask Trump’s previous debate opponents what they’re watching for on Tuesday night — and we did — many say the same thing: Look out for the thing he says or does that Harris can’t possibly prepare for.

Trump is the ultimate wild card who's found tremendous political success by ignoring the traditional rules of politics. He will say or do whatever he thinks is best in the moment. And Harris, who has dedicated several days to debate prep, can’t make a plan for everything.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine Trump surprising anyone with new material. He has praised dictators, talked about genitalia size, suggested suspending the U.S. Constitution and said that Harris only recently “turned Black.”

Trump’s own team doesn’t know what he’ll do or say on any given day. That’s incredibly risky for Trump. But it also puts enormous pressure on Harris.

Abortion vs Immigration

Republicans hope Trump makes immigration a defining issue of the debate.

The GOP has effectively condemned the Biden administration’s handling of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border for much of the last four years.

Harris will be eager to remind voters that Trump helped kill a bipartisan immigration bill that would have done much to fix the problem. But overall, Harris is likely to be on the defensive when the issue comes up.

Democrats, meanwhile, want to focus on abortion.

Trump, of course, appointed three Supreme Court justices who later overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that protected a woman’s right to choose abortion. Trump has repeatedly said he was proud that Roe was defeated. But aware that such a view isn’t popular among many women, he has tried to moderate his stance on the divisive issue.

Harris won’t make that easy. Stating the obvious, as a woman, she is positioned to be a much more effective messenger on the issue than Biden was. And Trump can’t afford to lose many more female voters.

Body language matters

There will, of course, be an obvious gender dynamic on stage Tuesday night.

The candidates — who have never met in person before — will be expected to stay behind their podiums on Tuesday night. But Republicans are hopeful Trump will avoid any other provocations like pointing, yelling or otherwise approaching Harris in a way that might be off-putting to suburban women or other swing voters.

Harris, too, will face unique challenges related to her race and gender as voters consider whether to make her the nation’s first female president. Some voters still say they’re not comfortable with the idea. If she comes across as angry, she risks playing into racist tropes about Black women.

While the gender dynamic looms, do not underestimate the significance of their age difference, either.

Harris is almost two decades younger than the 78-year-old Trump. Age was viewed as a political advantage for Trump when he was facing the 81-year-old Biden, but the situation is now reversed against the 59-year-old Harris. If he wins, Trump would be the oldest U.S. president ever elected.