Former President Donald Trump is opting for “policy consultations” with aides and advisers to prepare for Thursday’s showdown with President Biden, eschewing traditional debate preparation, believing further rehearsal is “not necessary.”
Campaign spokesman Daniel Alvarez told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the 45th president, 78, has not participated in any practice Q&A sessions or mock debates featuring Biden’s surrogate and has not even used a prep podium.
“He’s not doing that and, frankly, he doesn’t need to do that,” Alvarez said. “He’s doing several tough interviews a week. He’s keeping a very rigorous campaign schedule.”
Trump himself Washington Examiner In an interview published Monday, he said he thinks the upcoming CNN forum is about “common sense” and “posturing.”
“It’s very hard to prepare,” he told columnist Byron York. “You’ve been doing this for years, you have to know this stuff. And I know all the leaders, and I know what I know.”
Those who have participated in policy discussions with Trump include Senators J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan, former White House officials Stephen Miller and Kellyanne Conway, and former acting director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell. Politico reported.
In contrast to the relatively relaxed preparations of Biden, the Republican front-runner, the 81-year-old Biden has been secluded at the presidential retreat at Camp David in western Maryland since June 20, training surrounded by more than a dozen associates.
The president’s team set up spotlights and production equipment in an airplane hangar and movie theater at the venue to replicate the CNN studio where the debate will take place. The New York Times It was reported on Monday.
“At least 16 current and former” Biden aides involved in debate game planning include former White House chief of staff Ron Klain and the president’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, who will reportedly reprise the role of Trump in the 2020 mock debates.
Biden and Trump will face off for 90 minutes on Thursday at 9 pm. Debate rules include not consulting campaign staff, not preparing notes, no spectators in the studio and muting microphones when the candidates’ time is up.
Trump, who debated Biden twice during the 2020 campaign, acknowledged this week that the rules could pose problems.
“There’s no audience,” the former president told the Examiner. “It’s easier for me to have an audience because they can indirectly tell me what’s going on by the applause or the lack of it. This room is blank, this room is lifeless, and I think that’s how they want it.”
The 45th president quickly agreed to Biden’s debate proposal in May after the incumbent Biden suggested holding a debate outside of the schedule set by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
Trump claimed this week that his rival Biden expected him to turn down the invitation because the debate rules are widely seen as disadvantageous to Republicans, but Trump argued that Biden, who “said yes” to the debate, was the one “got caught up in it.”
The former president also promised to be less passionate in Thursday night’s debate than he was in his first debate with Biden in 2020, when Trump’s performance was widely panned.
“I was very aggressive on the first ballot,” Trump told York, “and I did it differently the second time and I got a good score the second time. It was a little unfair because a lot of the votes had already been cast the second time. So we’ll see how it goes. It’s kind of a battle. It depends.”
Alvarez also warned Tuesday that the selected modes, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, could “push” the debate in Biden’s favor given their previous anti-Trump rhetoric.
Meanwhile, Trump suggested Biden might be “high on drugs” to get through the forum without any major gaffes or awkward moments, and demanded that the incumbent submit to a drug test on Monday.
“The media is trying to lower the bar for Joe Biden’s debate performance, giving him a participation award for simply standing upright for 90 minutes,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chang told The Washington Post. “But Biden will be fully prepared and alert on debate day, relying on the same perfectly calibrated intensity he used for his widely praised 2024 State of the Union address and to defeat Paul Ryan in the 2012 vice presidential debate.”
“The true benchmark for Thursday’s debate should be whether Joe Biden can defend his own dismal record on inflation and out-of-control border incursions against President Trump’s unquestioned record of first-term success, and whether Biden can speak for himself without the overt participation and interference of two CNN hosts.”
