Rules, How to Watch, What to Expect in Philadelphia

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09/09/2024 05:00

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September 9, 2024

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When Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump face off Tuesday in their first and only scheduled presidential debate, watch for interruptions, raised hands and a flood of information, some of it misinformation.

During the 90-minute debate, Harris is expected to draw on her experience as California’s top prosecutor to highlight the legal cases against Trump related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; his 34 felony convictions related to a scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election; and credible allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Trump will likely continue to attack Harris for her work on immigration and try to tie her to President Joe Biden’s economic policies that Republicans say aren’t working.

Here's what you need to know when Harris and Trump take the stage at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday. There will be no live studio audience. Harris and Trump are not allowed to bring notes or other materials, but they will each be provided with a pen, paper and a bottle of water. The debate will air live on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.

Speak to the hand

Presidential debates are as much about style as they are about content, and both Harris and Trump will bring their own unique approach.

In trials, prosecutors construct a narrative that culminates in their closing arguments, and Harris is a skilled storyteller who can weave in her personal experiences to drive home key points, especially on thorny issues like race and gender.

In June 2019, when Harris participated in the first Democratic primary debate of the 2020 cycle, she took aim at the man who would ultimately choose her as his running mate: Biden. The first question was about the racial justice protests that summer and police brutality. It wasn’t her turn to answer yet, but Harris stepped up and went on the offensive: “On the issue of race, I can’t agree more that it’s an issue that’s still not being talked about in a sincere and honest way,” she began. She addressed Biden, saying she didn’t believe he was racist. “It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and their careers on racial segregation in this country, and not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose school busing.” And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was in the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day, and that little girl was me. It was the most memorable exchange of the Democratic primary debates.”

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Recently, on the campaign trail, Harris used a favorite tactic to quiet interruptions from participants protesting Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. “You know what?” Harris said. “If you want Donald Trump to win, say so, or I’ll talk.” As she spoke, she raised her hand, palm up, punctuating her words with gestures. She deployed the same gesture during her 2020 vice presidential debate with Mike Pence. “Mr. Vice President? I’m talking,” she said, raising her palm in his direction. Harris could use the same gesture if Trump interrupts her Tuesday night.

Interruptions, meanwhile, are central to Trump’s debate style. During a 2020 presidential debate, when Trump cut him off, Biden interjected, “Will you shut up, man?” Many analysts have noted that the former president, consciously or not, uses a debate technique known as the Gish Gallop, named after Duane Gish, a creationist philosopher. Steve Bannon, who has advised Trump, has his own name for this disorienting strategy: Flooding the Zone with Shit. Debaters who use the Gish Gallop quickly and confidently present overlapping and competing arguments, often containing falsehoods and non-sequiturs. The idea is that their opponent, and often the debate moderators, will not have enough time to fact-check their response or even respond to all of the points. Trump does this in non-debate settings as well. When NPR reporters and editors fact-checked Trump's hour-long press conference last month, they identified 162 lies and distortions.

Trump’s rhetorical style is one reason Harris’ campaign has been in talks with ABC for weeks about whether microphones would be muted when candidates don’t answer a question, as they were during the Biden-Trump debate before the president dropped out of the 2024 race. A Harris refrain during the campaign became “tell me to my face,” and her campaign has argued that microphones should be muted so the American people can hear Trump’s side remarks or interruptions. Voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, Harris said recently.

Location, location, location

The debate will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, one of two major urban centers in a state that Harris and Trump consider a must-win state. Pennsylvania has 19 more Electoral College votes than any other key state. In 2016, Trump won Pennsylvania and beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election. In 2020, Biden won the state and beat Trump in the general election. A recent analysis of ad spending by the Financial Times showed that both campaigns spent more on ads in Pennsylvania than in any other state. Women in Philadelphia’s suburbs could play a potentially decisive role not only in Pennsylvania’s victory, but in the election overall.

A potentially gendered perspective

The debate will not only be the first time Harris and Trump will share the stage, but also the first time they will meet in person. Trump skipped the inauguration in January 2021 after refusing to concede his loss to Biden.

It will also be the first time Trump has come face-to-face with a woman since his three 2016 presidential debates against Clinton. In one of the three, which came just days after an audio recording surfaced of Trump bragging about groping women, Trump followed Clinton on stage, often standing behind her as she answered questions. Clinton later wrote in her memoir that this sent a chill down her spine. Do you stay calm, keep smiling, and carry on as if he wasn’t invading your space repeatedly? Clinton wrote, or do you say: Back off, you pervert, get away from me, I know you like to intimidate women but you can’t intimidate me so back off.

Republican strategists and elected officials have urged Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance to stay focused on policy and not attack Harris because of her gender or race, but it’s unclear whether the former president will do so as he takes on Harris for the first time, given his penchant for making personal attacks on his opponents. Trump has previously questioned Harris’ racial identity as a woman of Black and South Asian descent.

The stakes

Biden's weak performance in the June debate overshadowed the fact that viewers came away with little understanding of how either candidate would approach implementing key policies related to reproductive health, immigration, healthcare and the economy.

When CNN moderator Dana Bash asked Trump if he was still responsible for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return abortion regulation to the states, the former president had a one-word answer: That’s right. Bash then turned to medication abortion, asking: As president, would you block medication abortion? Trump said the Supreme Court had just approved the abortion pill. In fact, the court rejected a challenge to its 2000 approval, saying the doctors who sued lacked standing. “I agree with their decision to do that, and I will not block it,” Trump said. He did not address other possible ways anti-abortion activists are seeking to block him, including using the Comstock Act, an 1873 obscenity law. He then repeated misinformation related to Democrats supporting abortion after birth.

Harris is seen as a more effective communicator than Biden on reproductive rights, and given her campaigns’ focus on the issue, she would likely welcome the opportunity to further explore her proposals to protect access to abortion.

During the June debate, when Biden and Trump were asked about child care, Biden gave a cogent answer, while Trump took the opportunity to talk about other topics twice. When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Trump what he would do to make child care more affordable, he responded, “You see, we have polls. We have other things that make him the worst because what he’s done is so bad. And they make me one of the best. OK? And if you give me four more years, I’ll be the best.”

Trump will likely try to devote as much time as possible to two issues where his advisers believe he may have an advantage over Harris: immigration and the economy. Harris, meanwhile, will likely try to focus on Trump’s legal issues as well as issues where her team believes she has an advantage, such as elder care and abortion rights.

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