Lessons from Ronald Reagan for Donald Trump in debating Kamala Harris

September 10, 2024 TruthUSA

Battleground polling of the blue-wall states so pivotal to Democratic hopes show former President Donald Trump in a best-case scenario.

CBS’s survey released Sunday shows Pennsylvania tied, with Vice President Kamala Harris up by 1 point in Michigan and 2 points in Wisconsin.

The 44 electoral votes that hang in the balance in these states are ripe for the taking.

And depending on how Trump approaches Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, he may be positioned to pick them off.

The question, of course, is what version of Donald Trump viewers get.

Donald Trump speaks as he participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections with US President Joe Biden — Trump’s debate with Biden led to the president withdrawing from the race — Harris will be a much tougher opponent. AFP via Getty Images

In his nearly decade of debate appearances, we’ve seen a number of game plans.

Some will work better than others.

In 2016, a radically different era, Trump got away with “looming behind” Hillary Clinton, as she put it in her memoir written after she lost the race.

She admitted the strategy rattled her and expressed regrets over not calling it out in real time.

Rest assured Harris, who like Clinton is predicating her campaign on breaking a metaphorical glass ceiling, would relish the opportunity to create a moment to put Trump in his place — which would likely be far more memorable than the policy sparring in the rest of the event.

So Trump must avoid a repeat of 2016.

And the best way to do that is take a page from arguably the most successful debater in GOP presidential history: Ronald Reagan, the man from whom Trump literally ripped off Make America Great Again.