After the fiasco in his first debate with Hillary Clinton last week, Donald Trump is now bracing for what pundits regard as a “must-win” encounter in St. louis, Missouri on Sunday.
And this time round, the Republican nominee is leaving nothing to chance as reports say that he is preparing thoroughly for the encounter, complete with a rehearsal of sorts at a town hall event since the debate this time will follow the town hall format, with half the number of questions coming from uncommitted voters. With his running mate Mike Pence’s strong performance in the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday night, analysts believe that Trump will have to prepare and deliver in order to build on a new momentum of sorts thought to have been generated by the Indiana Governor.
Clinton herself, having won the first debate with days of intensive preparation and a mock debate with an aide playing Trump’s part, has let it be known that she will not be resting on her laurels. She has broken away from the campaign trail to sit with her aides for a new round of prepping.
Since each of the three presidential debates is estimated to be viewed by upwards of 80 million Americans, the candidates will have their work cut out. In popular imagination, advantage in debates continues to rest with Clinton, given her long experience as a public speaker.
“She is very used to the (town hall) format. She likes it. She likes answering questions from individual citizens. She listens hard, she relates to people,” Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta said, adding: “And that is a format that Donald Trump isn’t as used to. And so we will see. I think it is a natural format for her. She likes engaging with people.”
Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is not one to agree with that contention. While asserting that Trump is “preparing constantly”, she told MSNBC: “He has gotten very excited about the format. The town hall format is really a sweet spot for him.”
The Trump camp, meanwhile, is going to town with Bill Clinton’s gaffe, calling Obamacare “the craziest thing in the world” because of several problems it has run into, notably rising premiums and an adverse impact on small businesses.
Speaking at a Democratic rally in Michigan on Monday, the former president had commented: “So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It’s the craziest thing in the world.”
Clinton has had to urgently and repeatedly clarify his remarks, given the fact that it will not go down well with the vast number of Obama supporters who are otherwise solidly behind Hillary Clinton. In his clarification, he said, saying Obamacare has done “a world of good” for those without health insurance. “We, for the first time in our history, at least are providing insurance to more than 90% of our people.”
Regardless of the clarification, Trump has sought to praise Clinton’s original comments for their “candour” about the state of Obamacare. And his running mate, Pence, told Fox News on Thursday: “Well, sometimes with the Clintons, even the truth happens, and Bill Clinton said what millions of Americans have known for years.”