Define the headlines. Connect the dots.
Early voting starts as early as mid-September. Your campaign needs to import paid teams into the battleground states, and you have only a few days to define issues to frame the debate next week.
Raise expectations for Kamala. Instead of “low IQ, dumb, she can’t put two sentences together,” try “she’s good at memorizing very misleading soundbites so she can debate very strongly to hide her radical extremism.”
Harris brags that she’s “the last person in the room with Joe” for major decisions. Especially given Biden’s incapacity, let Harris own the Afghanistan debacle, cost of living angst, open borders, chaotic world, and more.
Thus, this election must be about their failures, not a referendum on Trump or abortion. Contrast your peace and prosperity with her wars and inflation. You left them the Abraham Accords and a recovering economy. They screwed it all up. Then talk about your generational vision.
Don’t use attacks perceived as personal; instead, expose where Kamala stands on issues. “Madame Vice President, you’re a clever politician who campaigns pretending to be a moderate. But you’re a radical extremist who cannot be trusted.”
Losing the Debate Means an Uphill Battle
Prep daily for this debate. Lose this debate and it’s uphill. J.D. Vance can close the deal in his debate. This year, the VP choice matters.
Kamala did not get a single delegate in 2020. Yet, Biden made a deal with Congressman Jim Clyburn to make her vice president. Now, power brokers in secret forced Biden out and anointed Kamala, without an open convention.
And she selected Tampon Tim Walz. Years ago his earlier campaign denied his drunk driving (a “misunderstanding”); but Walz was driving 96 mph in a 55 mph zone, failed sobriety and blood tests, was arrested, jailed, and convicted. Walz dismissed his spoken false claim that he carried arms in war as a grammatical error. In another viral moment, he turned away from a reporter asking about the execution of six hostages, including an American. There is more to come on this pompous blowhard. Harris must own Walz.
What about you, President Trump? Stop talking about polls, crowd size, and the stock market. You’re not in a Republican primary. Keep your authenticity, but with discipline and focus — contrived spontaneity, with intention. Speeches, interviews, tweets — stay on message geared to this Target Group: the independent voters within an expanded definition of battleground states. Your polling and focus groups should emphasize this Target Group because what moves these independent voters will also reach the disenchanted squishy partisans you need — Democrats, Republicans, and the wandering nonwhites and younger voters. Obviously, avoid issues (notably abortion) where your hardcore and independent supporters diverge.
Track independent voters in each battleground state, then combine them into a larger group for reliable multi-level demographics for micro-targeting. Let the no-cost public polls guide how you’re doing overall in each battleground. And you need restructured advertising, not shrill, but with an emotional connection.
Be On Top of the News
Your daily harangue does not reach independent voters and it energizes Harris voters. Your stump speech needs tweaking. Also, define each day’s news lead; don’t step on it. Replace funny insults with self-deprecating humor (“Bobby considered endorsing me because like Mitt Romney, I never smoked and was never a drinker, but Mitt still didn’t back me; Bobby drove a tough deal, no junk food.”).
You should be the first with a literate reaction to breaking news, and then your coordinated surrogates should follow. Put Harris on defense with a challenge or a question.
Just for the debate alone, I could provide a whole list of questions that Harris could not answer. Example: “An American hostage was executed in Rafah. Four months ago, Israel could have rescued him and other hostages held in Rafah, but you publicly ordered Israel to stand down. Why do you keep blaming Israel, and not Hamas and do you regret providing a sanctuary for Hamas and extending this war?”
No unvetted tweets. If you are implausible, you cannot, in the debate, impeach Kamala’s credibility. You can dominate on issues without hyperbole. Memorize and repeat only verified accurate numbers, examples, citations, and quotes. Stop giving raw meat to the “fact-checkers” — their rebukes obscure your message.
Voters need to understand Kamala’s conversion is not “a leader evolving,” but a fraudster selling bait-and-switch. You can impugn Kamala with “You’re not who you say you are” but not if you pander. You need to regain your (political) virginity.
Less About Abortion, Not More
The less said about abortion, the better. Stop boasting about your Supreme Court appointees reversing Roe. It’s a political loser. The conservative rationale remains that Roe was wrongly decided, and abortion should be up to the people at the state level. You correctly oppose a federal abortion law. Your reversals on the Florida referendum raise the profile of abortion (not cost of living or open borders). Instead, highlight Kamala’s flip-flops. It is central to her political takedown.
Your campaign lacked a Plan B if Biden were replaced by Kamala. Consequently, she had a free ride: her staff and surrogates walked back her position on major issues, without her taking the heat. Meanwhile, Democrat fundraising is way up.
Amnesia blossomed as if Biden didn’t exist. They made you the incumbent “taking us back” and her the challenger “moving forward.” Most Americans don’t relate to “Marxist” or “Communist” and “San Francisco liberal” is too tame. She is a “radical extremist” too busy selling snake oil to educate voters about her issue positions. She shines when you attack her personally, she fudges when challenged on issues.
Learn from No Plan B and prepare for an October surprise to magnify Kamala as the commander-in-chief. You might even predict they create a crisis; they put politics first: “Harris-Biden’s ‘two-state solution’ is Michigan and Minnesota.” Our enemies will wage war if it helps elect her and stand down if war will hurt her. If they believe you will win, they might attack before you become president, with Biden in dementia and Harris in la-la land.
Kamala redefined the race — you (not Biden) are the aging incumbent in decline, she is the energetic challenger. She uses a teleprompter skillfully. She can cram well for the debate. And with the help of a complicit and corrupt media, history is rewritten as voters are groomed to believe that (a) Biden was one of the great presidents in history who (b) graciously transitioned to (c) the next generation (d) Kamala, an inspirational and charismatic woman of color who brings us “joy” and is (e) a high energy change agent (f) in contrast to the older guy who repeats himself, mixes up facts, whines, felony convictions, etc.
You need to put this linked narrative to rest.
Frame the Issues Before the Debate
Media spin can go the other way if you frame issues before the debate. Ideally, your team should promote a bad Kamala story that appears the morning of the debate to unnerve her. Kamala needs to be damaged goods before the debate, which potentially can define the campaign.
A “truth squad” — perhaps Republican senators — should follow her at each campaign appearance. Disgruntled former Kamala staff members quit because of her laziness and abuse. Can reporters find them? So much more. Let’s get her on defense for the rest of the campaign.
Name-calling and shrill or personal attacks do not work. Instead, consider focused-accurate-negative on issues, ending accurate-positive with comparative to Trump. Or perhaps compare the Trump Administration record side-by-side with the Harris-Biden Administration record, then follow it up by describing the Trump future. It’s a full circle, Trump is your peace-and-prosperity, and your first administration and second administration will bookend the Harris-Biden chaos.
In the days before the debate, seek positive coverage. Show unity and outreach. Perhaps campaign with Nicki Haley in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Prepare major events or announcements to emerge right after the debate and the next morning.
You want her national and battleground polls to peak, so the media spin her self-fulfilling downward momentum with finger-pointing among Democrats. Should the convention have been open? Is Harris too far left? Is Walz a disaster?
Your campaign by default allowed Kamala, her convention, and her surrogates to hijack themes of democracy, freedom, change, unity, patriotism, and light. Party bosses manipulated to make her the nominee without an open convention; she believes in more government control; she would continue Biden’s status quo; like Obama and Biden, she rejects American exceptionalism and divides the country by race, gender, exploiters/victims. Their path is dark. They are “progressives” against progress.
But you play into their false narrative by making yourself a victim with grievance, while she claims “joy.” You must flip her narrative and explain to voters that there is nothing joyous about Harris-Biden open borders, unaffordable cost of living, and more. Their campaign has over-stepped and she is vulnerable to being taken down. Your campaign has been given low-hanging fruit, but your campaign is in the weeds.
Kamala adopted a daring strategy to steal your themes and words and co-opt your issues. She is fencing the stolen goods with the electorate. If you don’t stop the theft and punish the thief, the larceny becomes bolder. But her selective appropriation of your agenda — she is now for fracking, border security, private health insurance, and gun ownership — is risky, providing an opportunity for you to prove she is a two-faced phony. Do it clinically, almost with detachment, not as a personal attack, because then the attack mode eclipses the substance.
The trick is to go negative but seem positive. You need synergistic advertising, but that’s another memo.
Connect the Dots
You need to connect the dots.
- “The Trump economy was strong, stalled only by COVID. We prevented another great depression and set the path to growth. Then Harris-Biden came in, kept schools closed, and hurt our children; jobs were already coming back organically, no thanks to Harris/Biden who now claim credit for a recovery in progress. The fact is that Harris and Biden kept increasing government spending, with more dollars chasing goods and services, leading to massive inflation. This was a seismic shock to the American economy that created unrest and anxiety among our people. Harris-Biden kept increasing the cost of living with more regulations and terrible energy policies that lifted the price of gas at the pump, higher utility bills, and more cost to bring food to grocery markets. Now, people can’t afford to live. And the cost of buying a home or renting has skyrocketed. And what was the Harris-Biden solution? To raise interest rates, making it even tougher to buy a home or buy or lease a car. Credit card interest rates zoomed. Now, Harris-Biden will not accept responsibility for any of this. They blame it on big businesses, small businesses, the oil companies, your grocery market, your plumber, the shoe store, the waiter or waitress. Do union members understand — are they blaming you for trying to keep up with the inflation they caused? They created this crisis where people can’t afford to live. Yet, they say it’s everyone’s fault except for Harris/Biden.”
- “Inflation is too much money going after too few goods and services. In effect, Harris-Biden printed too much money. A better word than inflation is affordability. People cannot afford the price of gas, housing, going to restaurants, utility bills, the high interest rates. All this leads to anxiety, stress, and fear for the future. Harris-Biden changed the American psyche. Do we want four more years of Harris-Biden?”
- “You know if you’re addicted to drugs or drinking, you can’t move ahead unless you admit you have a problem. Harris-Biden will not accept responsibility, and that’s why another four years will be even worse. So, if you think the destruction of the American dream is your neighbor’s fault or it’s your fault, then vote for Harris-Biden for more of the same. If you hold Harris-Biden responsible, vote for me.”
- “This election is not about the economy, it’s about what the economy means to the people watching this debate. The American people are in a kind of panic. Parents feel their children will not have a better life and that their kids will not be able to live as well as their parents. Harris-Biden offers an economy of despair, I offer hope.”
Voters need to understand the cost of living continues to increase, not quite as quickly, but it’s still going up, and Harris-Biden permanently raised the cost of living. If you get at the angst among Americans about the shock of the unprecedented rapid increase in the cost of living and the uncertain future, then by proxy you get at their angst about, for example, boys in the girls’ locker room at school.
There Should be No Surprises for Trump at the Debate
Every possible attack on you can be anticipated, and your opening statement might even predict that: “You know, I remember a Democratic presidential debate in 2019 when Kamala Harris implied Joe Biden was a racist. Who knows what her handlers coached her to say against me so that the media replay it over and over?”
You need to study one- or two-sentence dispositive responses for each possible foreseeable attack. There should be no surprises for you in the debate. Do not get into a defensive mode with extended dialogue. Every minute you spend on defense — for example, arguing about the appraised value of Mar-a-Lago — is time that could be spent on the Harris-Biden open borders.
You’ll need some zingers, words, phrases, a sentence, perhaps two or three sentences. You should study a list of tough questions to pose, questions that would be difficult for her to evade or answer. I could think of dozens of questions — another memo.
On a more general level, for example, “You insisted for a long time that President Biden was at the top of his game. We know you were not telling the truth. When it comes to Biden’s incapacity, what did you know, and when did you know it? Why did you and others around President Biden urge him to do an early debate? Were you setting him up to fail?”
Similarly, “Two days after reaffirming he was running for reelection, President Biden suddenly was out. We know that party bosses threw him under the bus, and you have a well-known affection for buses. You’re suddenly in, and the convention is rigged so no one can run against you. If Biden is not incapacitated, why did he abruptly — overnight — throw in the towel? And if he is incapacitated, what did you know, when did you know it, and why is he still in office? Can we assume that you have been making some of these major terrible decisions? If not, where do you differ with him?”
What is important is not simply who watches the debate but the “lifts” that viewers see on the networks, cable, satellite, and internet, what clips radio uses, and what the print media leads with. Use the zingers to define the coverage. Decide what headline you want and don’t step on it.
Your war room needs to up its game with ready documentation that can be provided both in real-time and quickly following the debate. All this should be prepared for each of your possible statements, questions, and assertions as well as a database to quickly fact-check or refute Kamala. In the three days leading up to the debate, and especially the morning of the debate, your team needs to get attacks out, with a trap laid, so that no matter how she responds to the attacks, you can still ambush her at the debate.
After nearly four years, Kamala says she will on Day One solve problems, i.e., the problems she created. She has dug a hole for herself. Instead of debating you, Kamala should be debating herself. You need to use self-deprecating humor and also humor that causes voters to see Kamala as the fraud she is.
By Arnold Steinberg for The Spectator
