That’s the biggest question surrounding Thursday night’s CNN presidential debate, the first of two onstage showdowns between President Biden and former President Trump in a rematch of the 2024 presidential election.
Which former presidents will show up at the prime-time debate in Atlanta, the capital and largest city of the southeastern battleground state of Georgia?
Will he be the undisciplined candidate who interrupted Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace dozens of times during the first debate of the 2020 election?
Trump appeared to lose his cool and failed to condemn white supremacists, and the performance was widely panned by political commentators and viewers.
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Then-President Donald Trump speaks as then-Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden listens during the first presidential debate hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, Tuesday, September 29, 2020. (Kevin Deitch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The then-president rethought his strategy, and his disciplined, measured performance in the second debate of the 2020 general election was a big improvement, but it was too late: Biden ended up winning the presidential election.
“It would be a very good night for Donald Trump if he repeats that performance,” Brett O’Donnell, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran debate coach, told Fox News.
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O’Donnell said her advice to Trump would be to “watch the second debate with Joe Biden in 2020 and recreate that performance. Watch it over and over again and recreate that performance in this debate.”
“He’s measured but firm,” O’Donnell said of Trump, “without being aggressive or passionate or offensive.”
Then-President Donald Trump (left) and then-Vice President Joe Biden debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2020. (Kevin Deitch/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
O’Donnell knows a thing or two about coaching presidential candidates before a debate, having helped prep George W. Bush in 2004, Republican presidential nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Republican standard-bearer and then-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2012.
During this election cycle, O’Donnell coached Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ahead of his performance in a Republican presidential debate.
Both Trump and Biden are aiming to use post-debate rallies in those states to put their rivals on the defensive.
O’Donnell argued that Trump has been more disciplined in this campaign, saying, “For the most part, he’s talked about what needs to be talked about, which is the prices of gas and groceries, the fact that people can’t make their home payments, can’t afford their first home. These are the kinds of things that people want to hear answers to.”
Former President Donald Trump attends a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9, 2024. (Eric Thayer/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Most Americans believe their personal world, and the world at large, is in disarray and they’re looking for someone to restore order. I don’t think talking about personal issues helps either person,” O’Donnell said of Trump and Biden.
In that sense, O’Donnell said Biden should avoid calling Trump a “convict,” a term the president has used many times since last month when he was found guilty of all 34 felonies in the first criminal trial of a former and sitting president in U.S. history.
“I think that’s a big mistake. It plays to Trump’s strengths. First of all, I think the American people want this debate to be about their issues, not about the candidates,” O’Donnell said. “So if Joe Biden makes this about him and Donald Trump, it’s just going to distract from the issues that they should be talking about and it’s just going to help Donald Trump.”
O’Donnell added: “By making this point, Donald Trump is able to talk about our justice system in a way that resonates with many Americans. I think this is a mistake.”
He also warned Trump against focusing on Biden’s age – at 81, he is the oldest president in US history and polls have shown his health and mental health are major concerns among voters.
President Biden’s reelection campaign on Wednesday slammed MSNBC and CNN for ignoring the “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” rally in Philadelphia. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“I would prefer to see Joe Biden make that point in the debate rather than have Trump address it directly,” O’Donnell suggested.
“Biden will likely deliver some witty remarks like Ronald Reagan did in 1984,” he said. “If Trump does his job in the debates, I think the age issue will become apparent on its own, without Trump having to provoke it.”
Trump has spent weeks mocking Biden as “weak, a failure and incompetent” and said the president has “no idea” as he questioned whether the sitting president was prepared for the debate.
But on Tuesday, the Trump campaign sought to recast Biden as a skilled debater, with senior adviser Jason Miller telling reporters that the president “has been doing this successfully for 50 years.”
Speaking to Fox News ahead of Miller’s remarks on Tuesday, O’Donnell warned the former president against “setting the bar too low for Joe Biden.”
“We should have high expectations for Joe Biden’s debate performance because, at the end of the day, he is the president of the United States,” O’Donnell said.
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“Be careful not to fall into the incumbency trap,” O’Donnell said of his advice to Biden. “Many, if not most, incumbents, whether it be Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush or Barack Obama, performed poorly in the first debate seeking a second term.”
“So my advice to Biden is to avoid the incumbency trap, because if he falls into it, it will be twice as bad because of the age argument,” he added.
O’Donnell also stressed that Biden “has to position this race as some kind of choice in order to defend what he’s done over the last four years. That’s a tall order, but it’s one he has to do to justify choosing him over Donald Trump.”
“Neither candidate has yet framed their campaign in a way that allows American voters to understand what to make of the outcome of the election,” O’Donnell argued. “I think the debates are the perfect venue for them to do that. I think Joe Biden needs to view this race as a choice between him and Donald Trump, and Donald Trump needs to make this race a referendum on Joe Biden.”
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