Harris vs. Trump: Debate-Winning Tactics, Explained by a Champion Coach | WSJ

- She's not a smart person. She doesn't want a Debate. - Say it to my face.

(crowd cheering) - [Narrator] Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will finally face off in a Debate on September 10th. - I think it would be a disappointing Debate if Kamala Harris can't do the one thing that Joe Biden couldn't do and that Hillary Clinton couldn't do, which was grab the vibes. - [Narrator] Here's a look at the Debate tactics most used by Harris and Trump.

And what a champion Debate coach thinks they need to do to win. - Gish Gallop is a tactic of argumentation where instead of just arguing one or two things, you argue several items because it's harder for your opponents to answer them. - [Narrator] This is Todd Graham.

He's coached college Debate teams to five national championships, and he's talking about a technique Trump frequently uses called Gish Gallop. - It's considered a fallacy of argumentation because you're just throwing a lot of things up against the wall to see what sticks, but you're not really defending any of those things. - We built the greatest economy in history.

The dumbest deal perhaps I've ever seen in the history of deal making. I had the best environmental numbers ever. - And so that enables you to do a little bit more of Gish Gallop 'cause you're not talking about specific policies.

Specific policies take time to get into. - [Narrator] Whether Trump uses it intentionally or not, he's very good at it. - Are Putin's terms acceptable to you?

- First of all, our veterans and our soldiers can't stand this guy (screen clicking) and they like me more than just about any of them. (screen clicking) As far as Russia and Ukraine, if we had a real president. .

. (screen clicking) A lot of people are dead right now, much more than people know. (screen clicking) I'll tell you what happened.

He was so bad with Afghanistan. (screen clicking) He should have fired those generals. (screen clicking) Israel would've never been invaded.

(screen clicking) The whole world is blowing up under him. - He had a very short answer to the question that wasn't specific, but then talked about things that were similar to the question and got a lot of criticisms of his opponent out. So I thought that was a very successful use of it.

- [Narrator] In his reply, Biden tries to address every element of Trump's Gish Gallop. - Never heard so much malarkey in my whole life. Look, the fact of the matter is that we're in a situation where, let's take the last point first.

- He's fallen into Trump's trap. When you hear a Gish Gallop like this from Trump, you just think, "Oh, how dare he say that about me? I'm gonna answer that.

" Well, he's how dare they and said about four things. You're never gonna get through all of those. - Iran attacked American troops.

We got over 100,000 Americans and others out of Afghanistan during that airlift. And that's exactly what Trump did to Putin, encourage him, do whatever you want. And he went in.

They've lost thousands and thousands of troops, 500,000 troops. - Thank you. - One of the problems debaters have, this is all the way from, you know, middle school, high school to college, to political debaters and presidential debaters, they do not like letting things go unanswered.

And you have to train them and train them, let it go, let it go. - [Narrator] To combat Gish Gallop, Graham says organization and focus key. - Okay, Donald, I know you're into big diversion tonight.

Anything to avoid talking about your campaign. - If I'm Kamala Harris, I would be reminding everyone what the question is. The question was this.

Here's my answer. - [Narrator] September 10th will be Kamala Harris's first one-on-one presidential debate. Graham says her style reflects that.

- I think it is currently emerging. Four years ago, her style was very laid back. When she debated Mike Pence, she had a little bit more assertiveness and aggressiveness, and I think that's what she's building on now.

- [Narrator] Being assertive is a tactic she used in the Senate, where she was known for sharp, direct questioning. - Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body? - They have not asked me to open a investigation, but- - Perhaps they've suggested?

- I don't know. I wouldn't say suggest- - Hinted? - I don't know.

- Inferred? You don't know. Okay.

- [Narrator] It's a tactic she brought to the Debate stage in the 2020 election cycle. - Let's be really clear, in our America, no one should have to work more than one job to have a roof over their head and food on their table. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition- - It's not so.

- [Speaker] Thank you thank you, Senator - They're coming for you. If you are under the age of 26 on your parents' coverage, they're coming for you. - Old school, if women came across as assertive as a man, they wouldn't be seen as assertive, they were seen as aggressive.

New school is, we're much more apt to be like, "No, you have a right to be as upset as anyone else. " So I don't think we have to keep playing the Hillary Clinton game, which is she had to be perfect. - It's conceivable that somebody came up to me.

- Sir, I have just a few- - Will you let me qualify it. If I don't qualify it, you'll accuse me of lying. So I need to be correct as best I can.

- I do want you to be honest. - I'm not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.

- Are you aware of any communications with other Trump campaign officials and associates that they had with Russian officials or any Russian nationals? - I don't recall that. - She's really found her rhythm and who she is, but she does not like being interrupted.

- Well, let's get go- - No, but Susan, this is important- - Susan, I have to weigh in here. - Mr Vice President, I'm speaking. - I have to weigh in.

- I'm speaking. - When she was interrupted by Pence, she would just say, "Mr Vice President, I'm speaking," but you can only say that so many times if your opponent chooses to keep interrupting you. And after you said it two or three times, it loses its intensity.

(pensive music) (audience chatting faintly) - [Narrator] One way to avoid interruptions is by muting microphones. In Trump's June Debate with Biden, the microphone was only live when it was that participant's turn to speak. ABC News, which is hosting the September 10th Debate, said they will follow the same rule.

- Most debaters will want to interrupt once or twice. So when it was Mitt Romney debating against Barack Obama, they might have interrupted once or twice. - Hold on a second.

I, the- - Mr President, I'm still speaking. - That's fairly normal. We didn't have to make rules about that in Debate.

But when Trump came along, and you remember the Republican primary debates when they would've 10 people on stage and it was just chaos? Great television, but completely chaotic, right? And so that's what we're trying to get away from.

I think the muted microphone is gonna work better for both sides. - Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris as our next president of the United States of America. (crowd cheering) - [Narrator] after President Biden dropped out of the race in the aftermath of his June Debate against Trump, all eyes will be on how Trump and Harris perform on September 10th.

- There are many people who are just looking for the feels. They wanna see how the candidate feels, how it feels to be supportive of that candidate. Trump, everybody always says well, he needs to be more specific.

He's not gonna get into a lot of specifics, but he could just do a little bit more, right? He knows he's going to say that Harris and Biden have been terrible on the economy. So just pick one issue of the economy, whether it's inflation, et cetera, and go a little deeper on that is all I'm asking.

If Kamala Harris doesn't come away from this Debate with people going, "That was awesome," then she probably didn't do what she wanted to do. Her answers are gonna be fine, that's not the problem. The problem is, is she gonna get people motivated?

I think she can be excellent if she keeps that calm demeanor, but still is aggressive when she needs to.