Donald Trump And Kamala Harris will face off tomorrow night in Philadelphia for the only debate between the two candidates before the 2024 election. He cannot claim, as he did before the debate Joe Biden, Trump has complained in the days leading up to the event that the event was rigged against him, despite claims that his opponent will be taking performance-enhancing drugs. But there appears to be a much greater fear within the Trump campaign team: that the former president will spend his time making misogynistic, racist and personal attacks on Harris. In other words, that he will be himself.
The Guardian reports that Team Trump is “most concerned about the former president’s mood ahead of the debate against Kamala Harris, fearing that the mercurial Trump might engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in the 2020 presidential election, according to people familiar with the situation.” Worried that Trump will become frustrated and angry, advisers to the ex-president fear that “his worst instincts to hurl personal insults, such as the recent attacks on Harris, which have become increasingly personal and extreme,” will come to the fore. Trump, The Guardian noted that he has “struggled with black women in positions of power in the past, and the campaign is bracing itself for the possibility that he will not repeat his recent comments questioning Harris’ race or openly misogynistic remarks, and, more generally, that he will engage in long and rambling tirades that have become a hallmark of his rallies.”
It’s obviously not hard to understand why people are worried about Trump and what he might say on the debate stage. Since Harris became the Democratic nominee, he has:
- Claimed she had only recently turned black
- He repeatedly insulted Harris’ intelligence, calling her “barely competent,” saying she “can’t give a press conference” because she was “not smart enough,” and claiming she was “not as smart” as Joe Biden
- Falsely claimed that Harris “could not have passed her bar exam” (she passed on her second attempt and was admitted to the California bar the year after graduating from law school)
- Shared another Truth Social user’s post that included a photo of Harris Hillary Clinton and a caption that read: “Funny how differently blowjobs have affected both of their careers…”
- A video was shared showing the Alanis Morissette song “Ironic” and called Harris “moronic.” Another lyric said Harris “spent her whole damn life on her knees,” as an image of the former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown, with whom Harris was together in the 90s, appeared on the screen
And what advantage does Trump have? Both candidates’ microphones will be muted when it is not their turn to speak. This could prevent some of the worst things Trump has to say.
