Ex-Bush Official Suggests How Donald Trump Can Win Debate

Former President Donald Trump must attempt to frame himself as the “change” candidate to win his upcoming debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to former George W. Bush administration official Scott Jennings.
Harris and Trump are set to meet in person for the first time on Tuesday during the ABC News-hosted debate in Philadelphia. The event represents a potentially critical opportunity for both candidates to win over the small number of swing state voters who may decide the election’s outcome but remain undecided.
Jennings, who served as special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs in the Bush administration, said Monday on CNN that the former president should avoid personal attacks during the debate and instead claim that he is the “change” candidate while tying the vice president to the record of President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race and endorsed her on July 21.
“I would just advise him to answer all questions going back to one core issue, ‘If you want change, I am the change,'” the commentator said. “‘If you want change on the economy, I am the change. If you want change on the border, I am the change…The only change she is—is changing all of her positions in a craven effort to try to make you think she’s not some kind of radical liberal.'”
“This is how he wins,” he continued. “People are not happy with the current administration. She is in the current administration. She represents a continuation of the same. So, anything that you do that gets off that track is really a lost minute or 10 minutes, or however long it takes you to do it. So, my advice is stick with change, and you’ll be all right.”
In a statement emailed to Newsweek, Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Jason Miller said that Harris will be facing “high-bar expectations” at the debate due to a strategy to “hide from the press” and avoid Biden’s record while promising that Trump would be “educating” voters about her policy positions on Tuesday.
“Harris has to explain both the damage she’s done to our economy as the sitting vice president, as well as answer why she hasn’t implemented any of these new plans during the last 3 1/2 years,” Miller said. “Further complicating matters is that Harris’ new Obama campaign advisors have told her to hide from the press for two months, further raising expectations for the voters.”
“The one thing we do know, however, is that Kamala Harris’ values have not changed, and we will be educating the American public as to what that means policy-wise, in great detail,” he added.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign via email for comment on Monday evening.
While it is unclear whether Jennings’ message would be a successful strategy for Trump, polling suggests that the former president does have an edge on economic and immigration issues.
A Pew Research Center survey released on Monday found that Trump holds a 7 percentage point advantage over Harris among registered voters who were asked which candidate would “make wise decisions about immigration policy.”
When voters were asked who would “make good decisions about economic policy, ” Trump had a 10-point lead over Harris. Harris had an 11-point advantage on making “good decisions about abortion policy” and a 19-point lead on “being a good role model.”
Harris and Trump were tied in the November election at 49 percent each in the Pew poll, while the overall polling picture showed the candidates in a dead heat one day before the debate.
An average of recent polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight showed Harris with a small national lead of 2.9 percent over Trump as of Monday evening. Averages of recent swing state polls also showed the race neck-and-neck less than two months before Election Day.