Donald Trump Should 'Be Himself' During First Presidential Debate Against Biden: GOP Strategist

3 months ago

GOP strategist and partner at Ballard Partners Adam Goodman joins Brittany Lewis on Forbes Newsroom" to discuss the historic first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

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Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is Adam Goodman,

00:08partner at Ballard Partners. Adam, thanks so much for coming on once again.

00:12Great to be with you. Big night coming up tonight.

00:15Big night. Historic night, to say the least. Tonight is the first presidential debate between

00:21President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. It is the first time a former president

00:26and incumbent are facing off. So what are you expecting tonight?

00:31Absolutely everything, right? Anything can happen. This is live theater, right? And when you have

00:37live theater as opposed to cutting the tape, anything is theoretically kind of in play.

00:46And we have two very veteran debaters. I mean, these are two that have been on this stage before.

00:53That gives you a sense of maybe predictability. But then when you put Donald Trump on any stage,

00:59you take that off the map. Anything bloody could happen here. And I think this is going to get a

01:06very big audience. The record, Brittany, on television to this point is 81 million. That

01:12was the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It may or may not reach that

01:19television number, but the overall number because of streaming is going to be way beyond that,

01:24I believe. I think this will be the most watched debate in American history.

01:29I have to agree with you because many people are treating this like a Super Bowl tonight. I was

01:35invited to a few watch parties. And these aren't from my friends who are political junkies. These

01:40are just everyday Americans who want to tune in and see what's happening. And I want to talk about

01:46the rules here and talk about who it's going to advantage, in your opinion. Here are the rules

01:51laid out by CNN. It starts at 9 p.m., 90 minutes long, two commercial breaks with no studio

01:57audience. They will be standing the whole time. Their mics will be muted, except when it's their

02:02turn to speak. They get a pen, a pad of paper, bottle of water, nothing else, no notes, no props.

02:09Who is this benefiting, Trump or Biden? It benefits both of them for different reasons,

02:14depending on what you're talking about. The mic that's turned off after every response to a

02:19question, I think it actually advantages Donald Trump because you saw what happened in the first

02:23debate against Joe Biden in 2020. That didn't go so well when, at that point, President Trump was

02:31going at it. No studio audience, that advantages President Biden because Trump is the master of the

02:37rally, the master of feeding off of an audience. The two moderators, the two CNN moderators,

02:43there is a clear perception that CNN leans left of center and that this would be more difficult,

02:50possibly, for the former president, Donald Trump. It actually may advantage him because those two

02:57moderators know that if they go over what is perceived to be the line of fairness with the

03:02audience, that they're going to get it and probably get it right there, live, from Donald Trump.

03:09We've seen that kind of engagement before. I always go back to 2012 when

03:14Newt Gingrich was running for the Republican nomination. It was a South Carolina debate.

03:19No one knew who was going to come out of the primary yet. John King asked, his first question

03:25of Newt Gingrich was a question he asked about his marriage. Newt Gingrich fired back at John

03:32King. You could see King thrown back in his chair. A lot of people reacted negatively.

03:38Would Donald Trump engage with one or both of the moderators of CNN tonight?

03:44My money is on it at some point. Maybe that's an advantage. The last thing I'll say is the 90

03:50minutes standing. Joe Biden shows energy tonight. I think everyone is saying, what does he have to

03:58do? He's got to show that. He's got to show he can hang in it for 90 minutes. That could advantage

04:04Joe Biden just by getting through that 90 minute examination.

04:10As you said, these are both veteran debaters. You also said it's the most important debate

04:16potentially ever. How are they preparing? While this might move the needle, if there is a misstep,

04:24that could potentially upend this race. Let's talk about a little piece of trivia.

04:31The question is, who won the last five presidential debates, the three between Hillary

04:37Clinton and Donald Trump, the two between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, according to public polls

04:42published after each of those five debates? Do you know what the answer is? Not Donald Trump.

04:48He actually lost all five on the scorecards of the pollsters after the debate, and yet seemed

04:55to score very well with the American public, certainly in 16. Rating these things is really

05:02kind of perilous, but I think we're going to know who did well tonight when it's all said and done

05:08based on our expectations of two people, Brittany. We actually feel we know very well.

05:15I want to now move to Donald Trump, though, more specifically. I want to try to see if you can get

05:21inside his head tonight of how he's going to show up on that stage. When he was in Philly over the

05:26weekend, he floated to the audience. Should I be nasty to Joe Biden? The audience reacted positively

05:32to that. We haven't seen Donald Trump, though, on a debate stage. He refused to debate this primary

05:38season, but he's known for his vicious nicknames Crooked Hillary, Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb.

05:45Do you think he is going to be nasty tonight? And would that benefit him at all? Or do you think

05:51he's going to take a more measured approach? I have no idea. I mean, what should he do and what

05:57he will do, right? What he should do, I think, is show maybe a more disciplined approach to a number

06:04of things, because that's that's a side of Donald Trump, I think, that maybe is not well established.

06:09I think that would hold him in good stead. With that said, though, Brittany, got to be himself.

06:15I mean, the last piece of advice you would give either contender tonight, be yourself,

06:20really do it the way you feel is natural and real to you, as opposed to having to answer

06:27question number 37 on the test, you know, accurately and well. It's not about that,

06:32ultimately. It's does he look genuine? Do I believe what he is saying? Those are the markers

06:38that are going to determine winners and losers tonight. That is that is a marker that Donald

06:43Trump, who, by the way, nothing else, Brittany, he knows what it means to be on stage. He knows

06:48what it means to generate audience, to appeal to audience. That's all his days on The Apprentice

06:55and other things he's done have really taught him to appreciate that. I think he's going to

06:59keep that front and center in his mind as he performs. That's a really interesting point,

07:04because this is a historic moment in the sense of we had four years of Donald Trump's presidency.

07:10We're almost at the four year mark of a Biden presidency. So the American people understand

07:16their policies. They understand how these leaders govern. So do people care as much about

07:22the substance of their answers, how they're going to answer, opposed to, hey, both of them look

07:28mentally fit. Both of them have good jobs. I can see their personalities more. What matters

07:33most here tonight? I think the last comment you made matters more to the president. It matters

07:39more to Joe Biden that he looks together lucid and sharp for 90 minutes. It matters more to

07:45Donald Trump that he presses the case. He's the challenger, right? Generally what challengers do

07:50in campaigns is they take on the status quo. The status quo is President Biden and the Democrat

07:57party. There's a lot to play with. In fact, there's very little. That's where the big

08:01advantage comes in. Going back to your question from before, Donald Trump should press the attack

08:07on are you better off today than you were four years ago. Across the board, from the economy

08:12and immigration to the existential threats abroad, you've got to feel he's got all those advantages.

08:18What Joe Biden's got to do, the president, he's got to defend his record. He's got to defend

08:23the problems we're having on the southern border. He's got to defend the feeling of nervousness

08:27Americans feel about going paycheck to paycheck. He's got to defend that things are going to be

08:32okay and settled in all sorts of conflagrations around the world. The burden of proof is on the

08:37president tonight to give compelling and convincing answers to that. All Donald Trump has to do is

08:43raise the question. So how do you think President Biden is preparing? Because he was the one to

08:49initially call the debate and then Donald Trump did agree rather swiftly. Right. I think Donald

08:55Trump even just said, I want even more debates happening today. We'll see how he feels in the

08:59morning. I think that the president has got to be careful of one thing. If I were to give him

09:05one piece of advice, do not take credit for things that people in America believe don't

09:12merit credit, at least not yet. Go with Bidenomics. You know how he's been pushing Bidenomics

09:18and it's been a success. What he should say is simply, look, I came into office, a lot of things

09:24were coming against us, COVID in particular. We've started to turn the ship. We've started

09:30back on that proverbial comeback trail. I'm very encouraged about where we're heading,

09:34but we're not where we need to be yet versus it's all done. We've done a great job. Aren't you

09:40enjoying Bidenomics? If he does that or anything having to do with the southern border or the

09:47conflict in Gaza or situation with the Chinese, the Russians, et cetera, I think that people are

09:53not going to believe what he is saying or not want to feel that what he is saying is true.

09:59And yet to this point in this campaign, it seems, and this is by the way, it's not just the Joe

10:04Biden. A lot of people in public office do the very same thing. They try to defend something

10:09that people feel is not completely defensible. If he doesn't cross that line and is more humble,

10:16I think he could score points. If he does what he's been doing, I think people are just going

10:20to shake their head and say, we don't buy it. Low-hanging fruit for President Biden is calling

10:27Trump a convicted felon. So, A, do you think he should do that? B, how does Trump respond to that?

10:35Well, Trump, of course, will take on the legal system, at least the legal system as practiced

10:40in the court case in New York where the prosecutor, the judge, everyone he's going to say,

10:45we're kind of in the bag to begin with. That's how he's going to deal with it.

10:48In terms of the president, he will mention that. But if he dwells on that, I think he has to worry

10:53about one of the comebacks, Hunter Biden. What do you do about Hunter Biden? And by the way,

10:58that's a very uncomfortable place for Joe Biden to be, not just as president, but as a dad.

11:04How do you respond? And he's been talking about it a little bit,

11:07Brittany, in the press. How do you respond to, should your son go to jail?

11:12Well, that's a great question. I mean, how should he respond? Because if President Biden invokes

11:18Hunter Biden, says, wait, your son's a convicted felon, too. I mean, A, that is deeply personal.

11:24Hunter Biden's not running for president. We know Joe Biden, as painted in the press,

11:29as he said before, is a loving father, has deep love for his son, had a response where he said,

11:35I'm not going, I'm not going to pardon my son, but I do love my son. I am proud of him.

11:41What is the response that President Biden should have in his back pocket,

11:44if and probably when Hunter Biden's brought up?

11:48You just said it, Brittany. You couldn't have said it better. That is his response. And it

11:52starts with being a dad. And if he just kind of let his hair down a little bit and just feel that

11:58moment and be a dad for 30 to 60 seconds, I think the American public will respond positively. You

12:04know, look, Joe, regardless of what you think about the legal aspects of that case against

12:09Hunter Biden, it seems like it's clear from all the events that we've seen in the public domain

12:14that he's guilty of the offense. It doesn't mean you don't have compassion for someone that

12:19obviously has struggled with drug addiction for a very, very long time. And if as dad,

12:25he responds to that question, I think, again, he could score points. And I think Donald Trump,

12:30by revising the former president, I would just let that be.

12:34President Biden, when we saw him at the State of the Union, once again, the bar seemed by the

12:39media, by Republicans set so low. Can he go out there and deliver a speech? And by those standards,

12:45he achieved that he went out there. He seemed to have high energy. He was around shaking everyone's

12:51hand at the end. Do you think what does a win look like for him tonight?

12:57For Joe Biden, you know, we saw the State of the Union address and the same questions are being

13:01asked about whether or not, you know, over 60 to 75 minutes, the president could hold fourth.

13:07I think he did a very good job there in terms of looking, you know, energetic, looking, you know,

13:12kind of dialed in. So if he does the same thing tonight, I think that's a score for the president,

13:18which is kind of silly when you think about it, that, you know, he's got a lot of energy,

13:23which is kind of silly when you think about it, that we would we would give him a partial win

13:29just on the fact he could get through 90 minutes. I mean, forget his policies, forget what he's

13:34doing or not doing to advance the ball in the interests of every American and of the world.

13:39We're thinking, can he stand for 90 minutes? That's that's kind of where we are.

13:44And what does a win for Donald Trump look like? Because as we've talked about, I mean,

13:47he can go two avenues. He can go the Donald Trump route of the nicknames and the comments

13:54and the potential nastiness that people think is beneath the dignity of the office.

13:59He could take the more professional route. What's a win look like for him?

14:03Donald Trump's could be Donald Trump. So what we've seen is what we're going to get to some

14:08degree. The question is, what message is he delivering tonight, Brittany? And the message

14:13he should deliver is the one we talked about 15 minutes ago. Are you better off? And he's got so

14:19much material to play with. And I feel the president has very little in comparison to come

14:24back with. If he does that, I think he scores the win both substantively and in the debate.

14:31And I think ultimately, elections are all about the future. They're never really about the past.

14:36It's who can take me forward, who can lead us forward in a way that I can I can support.

14:42And in that regard, the challenger, when you look at two or three Americans down the map,

14:47about just about everything, the challenger absolutely has the edge and the advantage

14:52to score. The win tonight for Donald Trump is to remember that

14:56this debate is unusually early. We're in June election days in November.

15:01Donald Trump right now is up by a hair in national polls. But really, it's anyone's game here.

15:06So how much will this matter come November? And how much stock are voters putting into this?

15:12Will this move the needle? Well, it seems early. But as one of my partners,

15:17our partners pointed out, you know, the ballots are going out right past Labor Day.

15:21So we're not that far from the actual vote starting to happen in America. With that said,

15:26think about it. After this debate, you have the sentencing in New York, the sentencing in Delaware,

15:32you have the Republican Convention, you have the Democratic Convention, you've got all sorts of

15:37other non-political events. Believe it or not, there are things happening in the world that

15:41aren't political. All those are going to happen before we even get to Labor Day. So will this

15:47matter? I think it's important in terms of maybe setting the bar where this race could go. Will it

15:54ultimately determine winners and losers in the fall? I don't think so. I think we know these

15:59two contenders very, very well. I think a lot of the impressions are already baked in. We're

16:04looking for reinforcement, especially among the soft leaners one way or the other. A reinforcement

16:09is something we're already feeling. In that way, maybe the debate is important. But I don't think

16:15with everything to come afterwards, it's going to be remembered as the transformational moment

16:21for mankind. Wow, we do have a jam-packed summer. We've got a historic night tonight.

16:27I'm excited to watch. I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it for sure. I know we'll be talking

16:33as the summer progresses. Adam Goodman, thanks for joining me. Great to be with you, Brittany.

Donald Trump Should 'Be Himself' During First Presidential Debate Against Biden: GOP Strategist

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