With a debate coming tomorrow night, Kamala Harris is preparing to meet Donald Trump on the stage for the first and possibly only time this election cycle. Luckily, the current vice president is getting some advice from the one person in the history of the world who has ever lost to Donald Trump in a presidential election.
I say "luckily" because this is great news for Trump.
The New York Times interviewed Hillary Clinton, who gave advice for Harris during Tuesday night's debate.
What advice do you have for Kamala Harris as she prepares to debate Trump?
She’s proven to be a good debater, both in her races in California and in her debate with Mike Pence. So I think she needs to be prepared enough that she feels really comfortable going on both offense and defense against Trump, because there’s a lot to cover with him.
Have you talked with Harris about this debate?
He doesn’t answer the questions. He doesn’t come with any specifics. It appears from the reporting that he is going with a scorched-earth approach and will just try to tear her down, which is his usual go-to strategy.
You have to go back at him about his really terrible record as president, the kinds of things he has said that he wants to do next time around, his association with Project 2025.
I think she has a lot of good ammunition.
I love the bit about Harris being a good debater, because I remember watching her debate against Mike Pence and thinking "Why is she so angry?" She used her righteous outrage to attack Mike Pence, who was pretty calm and collected throughout.
Notably, though, Clinton did not mention her debate performances in 2020 as a presidential candidate, in which she did so poorly that she dropped out before the first primary was held. That tells you all you need to know about her debate skills - moreso than a couple of statewide races and a meaningless vice presidential debate.
It's also worth noting that Clinton gave advice to Joe Biden before his debate in June, and Biden did so badly that he ultimately had to leave the race.
"He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather," she wrote in her op-ed for the Times. "Yet expectations for him are so low that if he doesn't literally light himself on fire on Thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential."
"Biden is a wise and decent man who is fighting hard for working families," Clinton also wrote. "Yes, he's 81. That's just three years older than Mr. Trump."
Please, Mrs. Clinton. Keep giving advice to Democrats. They need leadership from the visionary who ignored the Rust Belt and blue-collar workers in order to appeal to younger, progressive voters in already heavily Democratic urban enclaves. The Democratic Party is lucky to have elder statesmen like the Clintons and Barack Obama to help guide them into a future where they risk losing to Donald Trump again.
I hope that Vice President Harris understands and takes Mrs. Clinton's advice ahead of tomorrow night's debate. I feel Harris needs all the help she can get when facing off against Trump while being equipped with practically no decent record of note. One almost feels bad for her.
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