As RedState reported, Donald Trump challenged Kamala Harris to a debate on Fox News, and it didn’t take long for her to scoff at the idea. That has now handed the former president a golden opportunity.
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SEE: Kamala Camp’s Response to Fox News Debate Shows How Unfit She Is
The controversy at play centers on a previously scheduled debate on ABC News. That was unilaterally set up by Joe Biden back when he was in the race. Trump, recognizing his opponent’s supreme weakness, accepted the lopsided terms when the dare to show up was made. With Biden having dropped out of the race, logic would dictate that debate agreement no longer exists.
Harris doesn’t agree, and with the help of the press, she’s been caterwauling about how Trump is scared to show up to a debate she never negotiated. Just like the Democratic Party nomination, the vice president once again wants to have everything handed to her on a silver platter with no discussion involved. To this point, Trump has chosen to not play along.
Should he, though? Because I think there’s a chance here to upstage Harris in a way that leaves her completely flat-footed.
The first part of the plan is to keep pushing the Fox News debate. Make Harris and her handlers reject it over and over. That will make it clear that she is too fearful to enter an environment that doesn’t exist to protect her from herself.
Harris will inevitably not show up. When she doesn’t, Trump should spend the 90-minute segment ripping her on policy while pointing out again and again that she refuses to face any hostile questioning. The message of the night will be that Harris chickened out. There are then six days between that debate and the ABC News debate to hammer the point home, including putting out ads noting her absence.
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All of the above is pretty self-evident. I would expect Trump to do that no matter what. Here’s the more spicy part, though. On the morning of the ABC News debate, after spending all week indicating he won’t be there because Harris chickened out, the former president should triumphantly announce that he’s going to show up anyway.
That does two things. It leaves Harris flat-footed by flipping the script at the last minute on what she was expecting to be a friendly, one-sided interview. It also puts ABC News in the position of having to allow Trump to show up on short notice. If they don’t, then he wins the night without uttering a word. I suspect they would, though, which provides the chance for Trump to open up the debate by pointing out he is willing to go anywhere while she’s hiding from tough questions.
Of course, this plan rests on Trump being well-prepared and performing well the rest of the night, but the opportunity to land a one-two punch on Harris is there for the taking. He can get a full debate to himself, hammering her as a coward for nearly a week, and then deprive her of the same talking point. With Harris likely receiving a bump coming out of the DNC in August, that could be the moment to regain the momentum.