So what have you heard about how Trump is taking
this?
As you know, there are ample opportunities for Trump to
make flubs as much as he tries to point out
what Biden does, Trump is taking this more seriously than
people allow publicly, right?
I mean, in public, his aides often downplay the prep
that he does.
He's been doing not standard debate prep.
He he doesn't have stand insurance as of now for
Biden in these debates.
So he's not doing mock debates.
He's not doing mock debates.
No, that could that could certainly change.
But he's been doing what they've been describing as policy
time where they bring in different people to brief him.
A bunch of senators have come on, come in.
Last week, Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Eric Schmidt both
briefed him at the RNC headquarters after his meetings with
lawmakers around Capitol Hill, which was his first major meeting
with party members since he became the presumptive nominee.
And they are focusing on various issues that could come
up, abortion, healthcare, energy, COVID, and then very specifically.
And this was one thing that came up last Thursday,
What Trump will say when asked January 6th related question
questions, particularly his statements about pardoning some of the people
who were arrested in connection with the violence that day.
So, Willie, do we do, you know, will he try
to be vague and not be pinned down on what
whether he'll pardon them all on that one?
I what they are hoping he is going to say
And again, who knows what he'll actually say.
But what they're hoping he's going to say is some
version of, you know, it depends on the case.
He has left it much broader in the past and
said he'll likely pardon people again across the board.
Think that he they're going to try to have him
point to specifics, including people who were arrested where they
were not that close to the building.
Do you know, in past debates, did he do mock
debates?
I mean, did he have somebody playing somebody else?
Well, Chris Christie, I mean, played a version of Hillary
Clinton and he played a version of Biden in 2020
and then in 2016, 2016 before that.
So, yeah, I mean, those those were, look, Trump doesn't
like prep.
I mean, he considers it school.
So the fact that they've gotten him to do it
this way is actually pretty revealing and also speaks to
the fact that I think he knows that this has
to go well for him.
He has said to people multiple times that he knows
that he interrupted too much in the first debate with
Biden in 2020.
And having just rewatched that debate recently, it's it's really
striking.
I mean, we all talked about it at the time,
but Biden could barely get a word in edgewise.
And Biden was kind of smiling throughout as this was
happening.