The US presidential election
The debate most decisive for Kamala
Trump can afford to fail
Wolfgang Hansson
This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.
Updated 21.58 | Published 21.48
It's hard to overstate how much the debate means to Kamala Harris's chances of winning the election.
It is her first and perhaps only opportunity to prove to a multi-million audience that she is fit to be president.
As a debutante, the debate is much more important to her than to Donald Trump.
Quick version
Ahead, it is a dead race in the opinion polls between the two presidential candidates.
While Trump has seven presidential debates inside the West, this is her first.
There is probably not a voter in the United States who does not know who Trump is and has formed a clear opinion about him. Positive, negative or a little more wait-and-see.
Kamala Harris is uncharted territory for the majority of Americans.
She has indeed been vice-president for almost four years, but a very invisible and heavily criticized one.
She has not been tried in any election campaign at the national level. She dropped out of the 2020 primaries early because she had no chance against the rest of the field.
The only thing that a larger audience has seen of Kamala Harris is her successful coronation as the candidate at the Democratic Party convention just under a month ago.
Then always with a script in front of him.
She did, however, do an interview with CNN after the convention. But then she had her vice-presidential candidate, Tim Walz, to hold her hand, and she honestly didn't get any tough questions.
Now, for the first time, she comes face to face with an opponent that many would fear.
Which Trump emerges?
She doesn't know which Trump she's up against. Is it the bully, the man pig, the confident businessman or the statesman who has already been president for four years?
She must be prepared for anything to happen.
For Trump, there is a risk that he underestimates his opponent. Think he can run her over much like the Swedish national football team ran over Estonia the other day and therefore think they have now found the right game idea.
Although this is the first time Harris has participated in a presidential debate, she is not completely untested as a debater.
She was pitted against Trump's Vice President Mike Pence in 2020 in a showdown that most believed she emerged victorious.
As a senator, she was a tough questioner of the candidates Trump chose for the Supreme Court.
From her years as a prosecutor, she has a habit of presenting her "case".
Presumably this is how she would like to see the debate develop. She, the prosecutor against Trump, the convicted felon.
She will want to belittle and ridicule Trump. But it is important that she does not go too far and come across as rude and superior. As Al Gore did in the first debate against George W Bush in 2000.
"Comrade Kamala"
More than relating to Trump, it is important for Kamala Harris to show off her own strengths. To have good answers to the presenters' questions. Don't just rattle off numbers and facts, but give a good story about the future that can resonate with the undecided voters.
This may be her only chance to show a multi-million audience what she stands for, what her character is like and what issues she is passionate about. It is extremely unclear if there will be more debates.
Trump will try to paint Harris as a dangerous communist and constantly repeat the nickname he gave her "comrade Kamala".
Donald Trump is likely trying to pressure Harris on what has been less good during Biden's and her time in power. He wants to force her to take responsibility for Biden's failures.
Like the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan or the record number of migrants crossing the US border into Mexico.
Biden tasked Harris with trying to reduce the number of migrants. She failed miserably and did not even visit the border area to get an idea of the situation.
There she can be hard pressed.
In return, she will press Trump on abortion rights. He is very pleased to have succeeded in getting the HD to repeal the national right to abortion but wavers on a total ban on abortion which many of his conservative constituents want.
It is also important for Harris to appear tough enough for the voters to dare to entrust her with a mission that also means that she will be the country's commander-in-chief and must deal with wars and conflicts.
In the United States, it is not an advantage to be both female and of a skin color other than white in that context.
Indeed, it is a new truism in our age of social media that whoever wins a debate does not necessarily win the election.
But given that Joe Biden effectively lost through his lousy debate performance this summer, there is a lot at stake for Kamala Harris.
Trump can afford a less good effort. Harris must perform at his peak.
Trump will try to paint Harris as a dangerous communist and constantly repeat the nickname he gave her "comrade Kamala".
Donald Trump is likely trying to pressure Harris on what has been less good during Biden's an
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