Washington.- Hillary Clinton has as much experience as any Democrat in debating Donald J. Trump.
The 2016 presidential campaign, when she was her party’s nominee, included three of the six general election debates in which Trump has participated. Those matchups went a long way toward shaping the country’s view of his candidacy and what he would be like as president.
Trump, of course, won the 2016 election, a result that still haunts Democrats.
When Mrs. Clinton called this week to talk about her former debate coach, Karen Dunn, who is now helping Vice President Kamala Harris, I took the opportunity to ask her about her experience on the debate stage with Mr. Trump.
“The consensus was that I won all three debates and that I was well prepared,” Clinton said.
Here are some excerpts from our conversation, lightly edited and condensed.
What do you remember about your preparations for the debate with Donald Trump?
It was in the first debate that Trump literally ridiculed me for preparing. It wasn’t something we had thought about beforehand, because who would have thought that we would be ridiculed for preparing for a presidential debate in front of 85 or 90 million people?
So I basically said, yeah, I prepared myself. And I’ll tell you something else I prepared myself for: I prepared myself to be president. Because I had the confidence. I knew the material. I was comfortable. I also knew that I had to push back against Trump and not let him be the center of attention all the time.
What advice do you have for Kamala Harris as she prepares to debate Trump?
She’s proven herself to be a good debater, both in her contests in California and in her debate with Mike Pence. So I think she has to be prepared enough to be really comfortable both on offense and defense against Trump, because there’s a lot to cover with him.
Have you spoken to Harris about this debate?
He’s not answering questions. He’s not coming up with any details. According to reports, it looks like he’s going to take a “scorched earth” approach and try to take her down, which is his usual strategy.
You have to go back to his terrible record as president, the kinds of things he’s said he wants to do next time, his association with Project 2025.
I think he has plenty of ammo.
Do you think your overall strategy of ignoring or downplaying Trump is the right approach?
I think it’s working well. I mean, I think her excellent, energetic campaign is having a lot of appeal to people. And all he has to do or say is tear her down. He has nothing positive to say about our country or the world, and I think she’s handling it very well.
Is there anything else she can learn from or learn from her experience with Trump?
Well, I think Philippe [Reines, ex asesor de la señora Clinton que se ha disfrazado de Trump en las sesiones de preparación de debates de ella y de la señora Harris] playing Trump is perfect because, honestly, he did such a good job conveying the whole Trump package to me, that I’m absolutely sure he’s doing the same for the vice president.
Have you spoken to Harris about how to approach the debate?
I have talked to her about several things. He should not bait her. She should bait him. He can get nervous. He doesn’t know how to respond to substantial and direct attacks.
And I think because of her experience as a prosecutor, I think she’s prepared to do that. I mean, when I said he was a Russian puppet and he just babbled on stage, I think that’s an example of how to bring up a fact about him that really baffles him.
The more he can expose himself on stage – he is not a strong leader. He is not a stable leader. The more he exposes himself, the more doubts people will have about him. And that is really what this debate is about, because people who are already determined to support him or her are unlikely to change.
But there is still enough potential movement in key states where people can be convinced that they don’t want to sign up for another four years of him.
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