At their first, and presumably solely, debate, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump could have an opportunity to color the image of their opponent that they need voters to see.
Ms. Harris has signaled that she’s going to painting Mr. Trump as a billionaire out for less than himself who will strip Individuals of elementary rights. Mr. Trump has made clear that he sees Ms. Harris as a light-weight who is just too liberal to steer America and who’s inextricably tied to the insurance policies of President Biden.
Right here is how the 2 candidates might go after one another on the ABC Information debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Harris’s foremost potential strains of assault on the debate
Ms. Harris, 59, casts herself as representing the way forward for American authorities and Mr. Trump, 78, as a relic of the previous. She is going to press her benefit on favorable points, most obviously abortion, whereas searching for to counter Mr. Trump’s assaults on subjects the place she is weaker, just like the financial system and immigration.
She has additionally sought to make use of ridicule to her benefit, calling Mr. Trump “an unserious man” and suggesting he and his allies are “out of their minds.” That may be a distinction from the method taken by Mr. Biden, who made extra solemn and lofty arguments about how Mr. Trump posed a menace to American democracy.
Saying her rival desires ‘a nationwide gross sales tax’
Ballot after ballot has proven that the financial system stays the highest difficulty for voters. That’s an issue for Ms. Harris as Individuals specific extra belief in Mr. Trump to deal with the financial system.
In a line of assault she might repeat on the debate, Ms. Harris has accused Mr. Trump of eager to decrease taxes on billionaires and massive firms whereas elevating them on the center class. She has particularly centered on his proposal to impose tariffs on all imported items, which she has described as a tax improve for employees.
“Now he additionally desires to impose what, in impact, is a nationwide gross sales tax on on a regular basis merchandise and fundamental requirements, which can skyrocket the fee for households and small companies,” Ms. Harris stated in New Hampshire final week. She has stated that the tariffs would value households almost $4,000 a yr, a figure in line with some economic estimates of their potential impact.
At her rallies, she has outlined her personal plans for lowering costs on meals, housing, prescribed drugs, medical care and different requirements, arguing that Mr. Trump’s insurance policies would increase them, particularly if he seeks to repeal the Reasonably priced Care Act.
“He doesn’t really struggle for the center class,” Ms. Harris stated throughout her handle on the Democratic Nationwide Conference.
Accusing Trump of being an extremist out for himself
Ms. Harris usually tells her audiences, “If you wish to know who somebody cares about, look who they struggle for.”
As a former prosecutor, she says, her reply is evident: She fights for the individuals. She has characterised Mr. Trump as serving solely himself.
“He tends to struggle for himself, not for the American individuals,” Ms. Harris stated in a radio interview broadcast on Monday.
She has warned that the implications of that method might be grave if Mr. Trump and his right-wing allies regain management of the federal authorities. She usually highlights the proposals outlined in Project 2025, a conservative governing blueprint drawn up partially by officers from the primary Trump administration.
Whereas Mr. Trump has tried to distance himself from the doc, polling suggests Ms. Harris’s method could also be working. Three-quarters of possible voters stated that they had heard about Undertaking 2025, and of these, 63 p.c stated they opposed it, a New York Times/Siena College poll found this month.
The talk stage may give her a nationwide platform to drive that message residence.
One large query for Harris: How will she stand out from Biden?
Regardless of serving as vp, Ms. Harris is making an attempt to run as an agent of change. She is aided in that argument by the truth that Mr. Trump has dominated American politics for the final eight years.
However casting herself as a recent face requires some distancing from Mr. Biden, her boss, who’s widely unpopular with voters. Many say the nation wants a new direction.
To date, Ms. Harris has barely damaged with Mr. Biden on coverage. When she has sought some daylight, as she did with her proposal regarding the capital-gains tax, it has been extensively observed. On the debate, she might really feel the necessity to present voters how a Harris administration would look totally different from what they’ve skilled since early 2021.
Trump’s foremost potential strains of assault on the debate
Mr. Trump has pointed to Ms. Harris’s position as vp to immediately hyperlink her to Mr. Biden’s insurance policies, notably on immigration and the financial system. And seizing on Ms. Harris’s need to define herself to voters, he has portrayed her as extra liberal than her boss and too far to the left for average voters.
On immigration, calling Harris the ‘border czar’
Count on to listen to Mr. Trump say the phrase “border czar” in some unspecified time in the future in the course of the debate, as he tries to pin the rise in border crossings in the course of the Biden administration on Ms. Harris.
Ms. Harris was never formally given such a title, although Mr. Biden deputized her with addressing the foundation causes of migration from Latin America. However Mr. Trump has repeatedly used the phrase to attempt to maintain her mainly chargeable for the presence within the nation of thousands and thousands of undocumented immigrants whom he broadly depicts as an invading drive that could be a drain on authorities assets.
Mr. Trump, who usually tries to stoke concern about immigration, is more likely to argue that a rise in violent crime has been fueled by migrants, pointing anecdotally to a number of high-profile crimes that the authorities say have been dedicated by immigrants within the nation illegally. Broader statistics don’t bear out Mr. Trump’s assertion of a “migrant crime” wave.
Mr. Trump additionally might repeat his assaults on Ms. Harris for suggesting in 2019 that she believed individuals who had immigrated to america illegally ought to qualify for public well being care.
Extra not too long ago, Mr. Trump has argued that immigration is placing a pressure on the financial system. He has claimed that migrants are driving up housing prices and that they’re taking jobs from Black and Hispanic Individuals, teams whose help he’s desirous to chip away from Democrats.
Zeroing in on Harris’s liberal positions from the 2020 race
Nearly instantly after Ms. Harris changed Mr. Biden on the Democratic ticket, Mr. Trump started to depict her as extra liberal than the president and out of contact with what most Individuals wished.
He has notably pointed to quite a few liberal insurance policies that Ms. Harris supported in the course of the 2020 presidential marketing campaign, when she tacked left throughout her failed major bid in 2019. The subsequent summer time, she embraced progressive concepts on prison justice as protests over policing unfold throughout the nation.
Mr. Trump incessantly argues that Ms. Harris desires to “defund the police,” a slogan that encompasses a broad umbrella of proposals to overtake policing. She by no means known as for abolishing police departments, however she supported re-examining whether or not legislation enforcement budgets might be redirected to different social companies which may assist handle the foundation causes of crime.
Mr. Trump additionally assaults Ms. Harris over her help for ending cash bail in her 2020 campaign, although he doesn’t acknowledge that she proposed changing it with different measures and misleadingly suggests she wished a blanket launch of all defendants.
Given the talk’s location in Pennsylvania, a big producer of pure fuel, Mr. Trump is more likely to carry up Ms. Harris’s previous name for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the method of extracting fuel or oil from underground shale.
Mr. Trump additionally usually assaults Ms. Harris’s cosponsoring of the Inexperienced New Deal, a decision backing expansive clean-energy packages to handle local weather change. Mr. Trump usually refers back to the decision because the “Inexperienced New Rip-off,” and he argues that the inclusion of linked provisions within the Inflation Discount Act — which Ms. Harris backed — elevated authorities spending that spurred inflation.
And he might criticize Ms. Harris for saying in her 2020 marketing campaign that she would get rid of personal medical health insurance in favor of a single-payer well being care program.
One large query for Trump: How private would possibly he get?
Mr. Trump’s advisers and allies have urged him to concentrate on coverage in speeches and on this debate. However he has made clear that he doesn’t want to stick with an issues-focused script, even when private assaults carry political dangers.
Throughout rallies, he has known as Ms. Harris unintelligent and “lazy.” He questioned her racial identity and has mockingly invoked her previous romantic relationship with Willie Brown, the previous mayor of San Francisco. On-line, he has reposted crass personal attacks against her.
Mr. Trump has by no means met Ms. Harris in individual, they usually have by no means debated earlier than. His angle and demeanor towards her will probably be intently watched, as will his self-discipline as he tries to withstand the Trumpian urge to do what he so usually does.
