Trump at the debate – Washington Examiner

TRUMP IN THE DEBATE. Former President Donald Trump knows he overdid it in his first debate with Joe Biden in September 2020. In a recent conversation at Mar-a-Lago, I told Trump, “A lot of people thought about the first debate with Biden that you were a little over the top, that you just went after him too much…

“That I interrupted him,” Trump said. “Yeah, I think…”

“Are you okay with that?”

“Mmm huh,” Trump replied. Then, after a short pause, he defended the interruptions before admitting that yes, there were too many: “He lies so much,” Trump said. “It's happening, everything he says is a lie. So I would call him because calling him two minutes later is really hard because, you know, it's a lie, it's a lie, it's all a lie. I've never seen anything like it. So when I was interrupting, it was like…I agree, though. I treated the second debate in a very different way and got very good marks”.

now another debate with Biden, this Thursday in Atlanta, soon. But even when Trump talks about being forceful in the debate, he doesn't talk about being this forceful Given the experience of 2020, how do you handle it?

“So I've been to 16, 17 debates,” Trump responded. “I think I've won almost all of them. I did well against Ted Cruz, which is a good debate, all those guys. I became president. Some say I became president because of these debates. You can't tell until you get on stage because it depends on how it turns out.”

“I was very aggressive in the first one,” Trump continued. “The second, I was different, and I got great marks in the second. It was a bit unfair because, in the second, many votes had already been cast. So I'll probably watch the scene at that point. It's like a fight. It depends on what the situation is.”

I pointed out that this debate it will take place in a television studio without an audience, a completely different setup from previous debates. “That's the other thing,” Trump said. “You don't have an audience to read to. For me, the audience is easier because they're telling you what's going on, indirectly, with applause or not. This room is a sterile, dead room, which I guess is what they want.” .

Many Republicans were baffled in May, after Trump quickly conceded when Biden challenged him to two debates, the first with CNN and the second with ABC News. Some in the GOP were skeptical, suspecting that the debates would be structured and conducted in ways that would hurt Trump. When asked about how the deal came about and how it happened so quickly, Trump said it was the result of what he believes was botched play by the Biden campaign.

“What they didI'm pretty sure, is that I was approached with a debate that I couldn't handle,” Trump explained. “Dana Bash, Jake Tapper” — Trump referred to the CNN anchor as “Fake Tapper ” at all times – “no audience, sitting down, originally sitting down, a dead debate, turn off the microphones when you're not talking so I can” you won't interrupt him. … They knew he wasn't going to accept this because it was CNN, Dana Bash, Jake Tapper and m “the public likes it and he probably doesn't, who knows? So they thought they'd bring it up, I'd say no and they'd say we can't debate because Trump said no. So I said yes before they gave me the terms.” . So he stuck with it.”

Democrats would interpret things differently. After all, Biden took the lead in the debate maneuver and Trump had to react. But there also seems to be little doubt that Biden, who trailed Trump in key national and state polls, felt the need to shake up the race, and to do so sooner rather than later. Thus, the debate on June 27 will be the first confrontation in the general elections in history.

Somehow, though, both men were locked up in a deal of some kind. Trump asked if I was surprised that Biden was debating. I said no, no. “I don't think either of you said no when the other said yes.”

“No, I couldn't have said no,” Trump agreed.

four years ago, some Republicans became convinced that Biden, then 77, was senile and would barely know where he was during the debate. It turned out that it was the Republicans who had misjudged things. Biden wasn't a good debater, but he had won 11 debates in the 2020 Democratic primary season. He breezed through the general election debates, starting with September's chaotic showdown with Trump, and ultimately won the election. Now, after four years of Biden's obvious physical and mental decline (he's noticeably slower and weaker than in 2020), some Republicans are again thinking Biden won't be up to it.

for a while, Trump seemed to agree, suggesting that Biden could barely take the stage. This had the effect of setting expectations for Biden so low that if the president simply showed up and didn't drool, he'd be a winner. Now, Trump is taking a different approach. “So maybe he'll be fine,” Trump said of Biden. “Look, he was abused for something, like he was for the State of the Union. He was high. That's why I asked for the drug test.”

There will be no drug testing. But asking for one is another way for Trump to highlight Biden's obvious illness, and an explanation if Biden is having a good night.

I asked what Trump is doing to prepare. There have been reports that he is having “policy discussions” with Republican lawmakers, however not doing the traditional preparation of the debate, such as holding mock debates. Trump just isn't interested in that kind of thing. He feels it is not necessary. “It's very difficult to prepare,” he said. “You have to know these things after years of doing it. And I know all the leaders, and I know what I know. It's largely based on common sense. Common sense is not allowing people into our country by the millions if you have no idea where they are… I don't know, I think debating is more of an attitude than anything else.”

Finally, it's just a fact that both the president and the former president might be rusty. Neither has debated in four years. Biden has been on the White House bubble, and Trump navigated a Republican nomination process that he so completely dominated that he didn't need to participate in any debates.

“I'm not afraid of debates,” Trump said. “I did the right thing with the Republicans because I was leading with 75 points. I mean, how are you guys going to debate when you're leading by 75 points? I was totally prepared, but the polls came out and I was leading everyone. How do you have Asa Hutchinson, zero, yelling at you and you're down 75 points? Why would you subject yourself to that?”

Indeed, Trump's no-debate decision in the Republican primaries he was the winner. Now, however, things are different. It is a general election debate between the presumptive candidates of both parties. How could you not? “With a Republican and a Democrat, it almost doesn't matter what it is [standing in the polls] maybe I feel like you have an obligation,” Trump said.