Tens of millions of Americans will be watching the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday night. Many of these folks will be Republicans and independents who, like me, have decided that they are unwilling to vote for Mr. Trump.
I’ll be honest: I don’t have much of an opinion of Ms. Harris yet, because I don’t know her well. If she’s an unknown quantity to me, you can bet she’s also one to the countless everyday Americans she needs to win over. These voters love this country, and many of them will be looking at her on Tuesday night for the first time as a potential president.
Which is why the debate presents a critical opportunity for Ms. Harris. The opportunity for Mr. Trump is much smaller. The country already knows him and has, in the main, formed opinions of him. Because Ms. Harris is a relatively undefined political candidate, she has both the advantage and the bigger challenge.
She needs to demonstrate a commitment to changing not just the way we talk to one another, but the very way we must steer our governance on a more productive path. For Republicans and independents who do not support Mr. Trump, this is how she earns their vote. They want to be for something, not just against someone.
I’ve debated Mr. Trump six times and I’d wager I’ve participated in at least 30 debate prep sessions with him since 2016. No one has more experience in the arena listening to his attacks and debunking them than I have. That’s how I know that Ms. Harris’s goal during the debate cannot be merely besting Mr. Trump or out-insulting him. If she spends most of her time tussling with him, she will end up like so many who have come before, stuck in the mud against the best political insulter in my lifetime. The problem with focusing only on him is that you ultimately sacrifice your message as you amplify his.
While I ran an entire presidential campaign last year arguing why Mr. Trump should not be president, I believe, just as I did then, that this process demands more than just making the case against him. The country will benefit if Ms. Harris earns support that extends beyond the rallying cry of Mr. Trump as a threat to democracy. She should want to persuade voters not just to vanquish him, but to get behind her vision to unite the country.
For nine years, Mr. Trump has based his political identity on promising that you can have everything for nothing, and that he alone has all the answers. Ms. Harris should tell the country that there are no easy answers, only hard compromises to work out, and that neither party has a monopoly on wanting better for our country.
Our debt has topped $35 trillion for the first time, as spending and interest owed grow with no end in sight. We can point fingers all we want, but the truth is that both parties are to blame. What’s so wrong in saying that? What voters deserve is a leader who shows he or she can work with Congress to actually figure out a solution.
Ms. Harris needs to acknowledge mistakes and failures. Pretending they don’t exist is the bigger problem. Yes, the Biden administration was too late in taking stronger action on the border crisis. Say it out loud. The economic numbers do not reflect what people actually feel. If she acknowledges that it feels punishingly expensive to raise a family right now and that she has a new solution for that problem, she could give struggling voters hope for a future filled with more than empty promises.
Americans increasingly feel as if there is little return for going to college. More people are working longer and harder instead of retiring, in part because our political failures have left many with no other choice.
Not to mention the unaffordability of housing and the lack of hope and frustration that comes from feeling that you may never own your own home.
Something is unraveling in our cultural fabric right now. It’s leading to a lack of purpose that is showing up in ways that we are unprepared for: a record number of Americans dying by suicide, an overwhelming drug addiction and overdose problem.
This despondency and lack of hope persist because our political leaders have offered nothing but anger, partisan stubbornness and efforts to divide our country even further to conquer the election in front of them.
There is an opening at the debate to offer an alternative — to offer voters hope. Ms. Harris has a better opportunity to do this than Mr. Trump. She needs only to have the courage to do it; to break away from the political culture of petty bickering and name calling that her opponent personifies.
The voters who are sitting on the sidelines right now are waiting for their vote to be earned. Will one of the candidates do that? This is Ms. Harris’s chance to make a true break from the tribalism of the Trump years and give the American people what they deserve, not what they’ve come to dread and expect.
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