Advisers worry whether ‘happy Trump’ or ‘angry Trump’ will show up to debate
Sources say campaign is concerned that Trump may engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in 2020
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Mon 9 Sep 2024 12.00 CEST
Donald Trump’s campaign is most concerned going into the debate against Kamala Harris with the former president’s mood, afraid that the mercurial Trump could engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in the 2020 presidential election, according to people familiar with the situation.
The campaign’s internal refrain is whether they get “happy Trump” or “angry Trump”, the people said, as they count down the days to perhaps the final presidential debate this cycle.
Tuesday night’s televised debate is widely seen as a crux moment in the rebooted 2024 campaign. Since Joe Biden dropped out of the race after a campaign-killing debate performance crystalized fears over his age and mental acuity, Harris has turned the race on its head.
But Harris’s upward trajectory appears to have crested and Trump’s advisers have been looking at the debate as their best chance to retake the momentum after weeks of being humped out of the news cycle. Their hope, the people said, is to get the Trump who was fast on his feet during the debate against Biden.
Their concern is getting angry Trump. If Trump becomes frustrated on the stage, it could bring out his worst instincts to make ad hominem insults in the vein of recent attacks on Harris that have turned increasingly personal and extreme to the extent that is has exasperated some of his own supporters.
Trump has struggled historically with Black women in positions of power, and the campaign is bracing for him not to repeat recent comments that questioned Harris’s race or openly misogynistic comments, and more broadly, if he launches into lengthy and rambling diatribes that have become a feature of his rallies.
The anxiety over Trump’s mood on the day reflects the reality that the campaign has been looking at the debate as the best opportunity for Trump to try and reset the race after playing defense against Harris for weeks – and the risks of doing so.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... aign-fears