USA 2024: Vastly different strategies as Harris, Trump prepare for TV debate
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00:00Just one day to go until the first and most likely only debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the run-up to the showdown
00:07Both candidates for the US presidency are tied in the polls neck and neck
00:12Harris has made gains since Joe Biden bowed out of the race
00:15But despite Donald Trump's status as a convicted felon his base remains a fiercely loyal
00:21Every Monday at 2 p.m. In the run-up to November's election will be focusing on the US election with our
00:29Washington correspondent Frazier Jackson Frazier. Great to see you. Good to see you come back to Paris
00:34Tell us what can we expect from this upcoming debate? Well, I think all eyes really are going to be on this
00:39This is the first time that Kamala Harris has actually met with Donald Trump face to face
00:43It's the first time they two have ever come face to face and all eyes really are going to be on how
00:48How they interact with each other and there's a been a whole series of discussions around that
00:54Of course, there was a set of rules that was agreed upon when it was Joe Biden versus Donald Trump
00:59Of course, we're going to see all of those rules really and still in place for this debate between
01:04Harris and Trump so we're talking no audience. They're not going to be able to bring notes on to set with them
01:10They're also not going to have their microphones live while the other person is talking to kind of cut back on that
01:18Interruption and there was some talk that it would have helped Joe Biden during the debates
01:24But it basically came to light during that debate that actually it helps Donald Trump because it made him seem more controlled
01:30So the Harris team has been trying to push back on that to try to get those mics live again
01:34So that it could pick up some of Donald Trump's musings as it were while she was talking
01:39But ultimately ABC has not gone flat
01:41There will however be a panel of what we're calling a pool which will be listening to the mics
01:45Even when they are muted on broadcast and if there is significant cross-talk, then they will put the mics up
01:51So a bit of a debate on how that's going to work who that's actually going to work in the favor of as well
01:56I think the voters are going to be looking more at policy this time rather than personality
02:02Of course, it could be argued. That's something that's been difficult for Donald Trump to show at times his
02:07showings at the rallies over the course of the last week have been
02:11Interesting to say the least certain topics that he's been bringing up
02:15Factually incorrect and other things have been completely off-topic from the economic message that his campaign wants to hold
02:22Kamala Harris then trying to drill down into that policy, especially the economic policy, which at the moment doesn't hasn't been that fleshed out
02:29Fish I just want to talk about the new lease of life
02:32The Democrats have gotten after Joe Biden
02:34Dropped out of the race because the way things were going this election was Donald Trump's to win
02:39Then obviously Kamala Harris stepped onto the scene
02:41She had a surge in the polls, but now things are neck-and-neck. It seems going into this debate
02:46What was it like being in Washington while when Joe Biden dropped out of the race? It's been a whirlwind couple of months
02:53I think it's fair to say this is obviously my first presidential election that I've ever covered
02:56But my colleagues that work at places like ABC
02:59CNN and the Daily Mail have covered many elections before me
03:02all of them keep coming up to me and be like it is wild that this is your first election cycle a
03:06Covering because it is not normal at all. If you cast your minds back to June
03:10We kind of thought this was you know, a relatively done deal
03:13It was going to be a Donald Trump election and then especially after the wake of the assassination attempt all journalists
03:18I think said that's it. It's sewn up and it's it's done. And then we went into the RNC the mood there was extremely
03:25Celebratory they were basically having a giant party for four days
03:29They thought it was their election to lose and indeed it was at that point and then the end of July Joe Biden drops
03:34Out of that race after that disastrous debate performance and the entire world has been turned on its head
03:39We are now in the middle of a whirlwind where?
03:42Kamala Harris has had to basically bolt the wings onto the plane while she's at
03:4533,000 feet this has never been done in the history of the American
03:49Political system and we as journalists are basically trying to stay ahead of it and keep playing catch-up as well
03:54So it's been a fascinating time to try to get a handle on how to cover it
03:59And you know
04:00I think there's a certain sense that we're all just kind of doing the best that we can and trying to maintain
04:04Some sense of normality while this all goes on
04:07How how important are debates because it seems that because the two candidates are neck-and-neck in the polls that there's very little that can
04:15sway voters now
04:15I think debates hold a big a big part to play if you look at the impact that the last debate had for example
04:22You could argue that it's been the biggest debate of all time because it led to one candidate effectively dropping out of the race
04:28Mainly though. I think most people don't really see Kamala Harris and most politicians really in an unscripted format
04:35Donald Trump is a bit of a different beast. He tends to go off-script a lot when he's at his rallies, but it's an opportunity for
04:42Middle America to see some see these candidates on prime time
04:47For a whole hour and a half unscripted with nothing to rely on
04:50So I think they can kind of you know
04:52Get down at the heart of what these candidates are about and who they are as well
04:56Especially when their positions and their past as well are pushed and challenged by both the moderators and the people out there again
05:03So it's an important. It's an important time
05:05Frazier, of course, we know in the aftermath of the last election Donald Trump saw doubt in the whole process
05:10Oh when you speak to journalists, there is that other concerns that
05:14He may not accept the outcome of the next vote
05:17Well, I think Donald Trump's already been sowing those seeds again this time around
05:21you know that he's said many times about this at the vote being rigged and to not go for
05:25Early voting because that's all rigged as well
05:28That is also as something that his campaign itself has been trying to battle with because they've actively this time around been trying to get
05:35People out to early vote because they're trying to counteract that massive Democratic normally Democratic swing
05:42That is pushed by early voting. It's mainly Democrats who do vote early
05:46So there's a bit of a conflicting message there from Donald Trump in his campaign
05:49But that has kind of been par for the course so far
05:52but it is really
05:54Something that you're having to watch closely because Donald Trump has of course got a history of this and then
06:00His whole remarks last time led to the January 6, you know
06:04Attack on the capsule, which is still being played out in the American courts now
06:08So it is definitely a worry and something that's Joe Biden is likely keeping an eye on as well
06:14I want to talk about how Donald Trump in the past has managed to
06:18You know pick these attack lines on whoever he's up against sleepy Joe crooked Hillary
06:23What have you when it comes to pinning down Kamala Harris? He struggled a bit
06:27I know he's now calling her comrade come comrade Kamala or and obviously mispronouncing her name
06:33intentionally
06:34It's difficult for him to go after a woman of color, isn't it?
06:38Yeah
06:39and I think that really is also why this debate is going to be so interesting as well if you look at what the way he
06:43Acted during his interview with the associate the National Association of Black Journalists
06:47Oh that was something which was quite shocking to a lot of journalists
06:51that was when he came out with the line that Kamala Harris suddenly became a black person and
06:55That was quite shocking now
06:56I think the Harris campaign really is is playing this in the best way possible
07:01Donald Trump is somebody who loves political oxygen
07:03he loves being the center of the headlines and I think it really set him for a tailspin in the wake of
07:10Joe Biden stepping out of the race that Kamala Harris became center stage and he didn't really know how to handle that
07:15So he's getting the headlines back slightly
07:18But Kamala Harris is not giving him the time of day if you look at that CNN interview
07:22She did Dana Bash asked her about that that moment and the NABJ interview where she said same old tired playbook next question
07:30I think that is the way that she has to play Donald Trump because if you engage and if you go
07:34For justify yourself, you know justify yourself and then you know, he is somebody he's a master of
07:40Public opinion. He's a master
07:42Showman, he's been in TV for years. He knows how to play the stage
07:46So you have to kind of come at it with a different playbook if you're trying to beat him at his own game as it
07:51Were and I think Kamala Harris will be hoping that her past her past life as a prosecutor will definitely aid her in that
07:58Frazier, thank you very much. Fraser Jackson. Yeah now we will be broadcasting the US presidential debate live here on France 24
08:05It will be airing at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. That's at 3 p.m. 3 a.m. Rather Central European time