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There is little doubt that today’s debate will be a seminal moment in the 2024 presidential race. The stakes are high for both candidates. Kamala Harris has to tell the country what her own policy positions are while also defending the Biden administration’s record on some key issues like the economy and immigration. And Donald Trump has to keep it together for 90 minutes without appearing to be too insane, senile, unpleasant, or weird.

It’s tough to say whose challenge is greater.

And, since their impartiality will undoubtedly be questioned, moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis will have to do a good job of making sure that the debate adds value by demonstrating to voters who these candidates are. 

To help everybody involved, we have mapped out some tough but fair questions that would allow Americans to get the measure of Trump and Harris, and how the candidates should/might answer them.

For the former president, that’s easy once you consider that he is barely able to articulate any policy plan that goes beyond a handful of words that he can remember. 

Moderators should demand that he provide specifics on some of the issues a presidential candidate should be familiar with. 

Trump floundered badly last week when he was asked about his plans for bringing down the cost of child care, and his non-answer was a good example of the kind of word salad he delivers whenever substance would be required of a normal candidate.

Muir and Davis should start out by asking him that question again. 

“You were criticized for not being able to provide details on how you would help Americans reduce the burden of high child-care costs. Now that you have had a few days to think about it, please tell parents what, specifically, you would do to address this problem.”

Trump would not be able to, of course. He cares neither about the plight of parents nor reducing the cost of child care. 

At most, he might be wondering whether he could offer “Ivankare” — a Take-Care-of-Your-Kids-Like-Donald-Trump training program that parents could purchase for $49.99 (or $599.99 for the platinum version with a strand of his hair).

And then, after he rambles nonsensically about unrelated topics like tariffs, the moderators could point out that he did not answer the question and give Harris a chance. 

This pattern should then be repeated on another issue… nothing too obscure, but also not something for which Trump has a three-word answer like “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

For example, in light of more severe weather across the country, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration just proposed a regulation to better protect workers from severe heat. This may not be something that is on the radar screen of anybody other than the tens of millions of Americans who must work in 80 F heat. However, it should be something a president has thoughts on… so let’s ask Trump. 

The final policy question for Trump should be about his mass deportation “plan” and how that would affect a specific agricultural sector that employs a lot of the same people he would want to evict from the country.

However, the focus on the former president should not be on his policy positions. You are not going to get a sensible answer from him on any of these questions, and the moderators’ questions should highlight that fact. 

At the same time, it would be interesting for Americans to see what kind of person Trump is. So, there should be some outside-of-the-box questions that both candidates can/should answer.

Things like “Tell us about your last belly laugh!” or “What is some advice you got from your best friend that has really made a difference in your life?” or “What is something you would like to change about yourself?”

Most Americans probably have answers to these questions. Trump likely does not, and it will be illuminating for voters to see that. 

Let’s turn to Harris. 

While she just made public her policy platform, there are some legitimate questions Americans (should) have for the vice president and where she stands on issues. 

In addition, it is totally fair to quiz her about the current administration’s real or perceived failures on things like the economy (especially inflation) and immigration. 

Harris should have plenty to say about it. In fact, she should embrace the chance to clarify her stances on these issues, which have been repeatedly muddied by partisan propaganda. 

What we would like to hear from her here is candid honesty… something voters are arguably hungry for. 

First and foremost, she should point out that any economic statistics based on trends in the early part of the decade are invariably tainted.

In some cases that benefits the Biden-Harris administration, and in other cases it disadvantages them. Inflation and the jobs numbers are great examples. 

It’s true that Trump is the only president in modern history who “lost” jobs while in office — 2.7 million of them. But it’s not really fair to hold him accountable for these because, while hiring had already slowed before the pandemic, all of those jobs were lost in 2020 after COVID-19 hit (and millions were not recovered before he left office).

It would be refreshing for Harris to point this out, while also noting that the job growth during the Biden administration, which totals a historic 16 million, would have been impressive regardless.

On the issue of inflation, there is no doubt that the high inflation rates of 2021 and 2022 (on Biden’s watch) hurt consumers. Harris must acknowledge that. 

Once again, however, context matters. In this case, she should counter the GOP rhetoric by pointing out that high post-pandemic inflation was a global problem caused by factors like supply-chain issues and profiteering — and that other developed nations were even more adversely affected.

Most importantly, this is a problem that is now under control again, with the rate of inflation having been reduced by more than 50 percent since it peaked in the first half of the Biden presidency. 

We’d also like to see Harris address immigration. Here, too, some straight talk is needed. 

Most Americans are understandably unhappy with the situation at the border, and she has to explain what she would change. One key fix would be the passage of the bipartisan immigration reform act that Trump torpedoed earlier this year because he hoped discontent on the issue would help his presidential campaign. 

But other reforms are sorely needed, and Harris should come out with a well-crafted plan on how she would alleviate Americans’ concerns about undocumented migrants — including some potential criminals — being apprehended and released, and then disappearing from the system. 

At the same time, this is an excellent example of how perception and reality clash.

Harris should point out that right-wing propaganda, both from Trump and his media allies like those at Fox News, is designed to make Americans afraid. 

They do that by using anecdotal evidence to make the country believe that there is a violent crime crisis sparked by undocumented migrants.

Acknowledging that any serious crime is tragic, Harris should point out that migrants in general (and undocumented ones in particular) are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the US — even according to a study the Trump administration published.

And while a small fraction of undocumented migrants commit heinous crimes like rape and murder, as we have pointed out, nobody made a big deal out of these tragedies when Trump was in office. 

And of course, there are vanishingly few stories about how law-abiding immigrants benefit their communities by paying sales taxes; keeping prices low by providing cheap labor (such as picking fruits and vegetables on large farms); propping up Social Security (because Social Security taxes are deducted from their wages while they cannot collect benefits); providing off-the-books child care and elder care; and so on.

In other words, Harris should be honest with voters, acknowledging the challenges ahead, but also pushing back against the GOP’s gloom-and-doom rhetoric by offering an evidence-based, optimistic vision of the future. 

If she does all that, and if moderators don’t let Trump get away with endless lies and nonsensical answers, this will be a debate worth watching.

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