Political vets who’ve debated Biden or Trump dish on how to do it

26 June 2024

This Thursday, June 27 in Atlanta, CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the first 2024 debate between President Joe Biden and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Biden has a long history of participating in presidential or vice-presidential debates, going back to the 1988 Democratic presidential primary (which Biden, then a U.S. senator via Delaware, ultimately lost to former Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis). Right-wing media outlets have played up Biden's verbal gaffes, the result of a speech impediment that he overcome. But many politicians and journalists who have known the 81-year-old president for a long time have stressed that he can be a tough, skillful debater.

In an article published on June 26, Wall Street Journal reporters Ken Thomas and Vivian Salama examine some of the things that go into debating either Biden or Trump — and draw on insights from people who have participated in real or mock debates involving one of them.

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who debated Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, told the Journal, "He's going to try to get Biden rattled. If Biden takes the bait, he's going to be hitting to Trump's agenda, not to his own."

In a June 25 op-ed for the New York Times, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton recalled a mock debate with Democratic strategist Philippe Reines, who played Trump.

Clinton wrote, "I practiced keeping my cool in the face of hard questions and outright lies about my record and character. A longtime adviser played Mr. Trump and did everything he could to provoke, rattle and enrage me. It worked."

Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri), who debated Biden back in 1987, said that Trump will hurt himself in the June 27 debate if he acts "crazy" like he did when he debated Biden in 2020.

Gephardt told the Journal, "To that voter out there who is trying to make up their minds, they could see Trump was acting crazy and really out of sorts."

Former Solicitor General Ted Olsen, who played Biden during a mock debate with 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, said of Biden and Trump, "Neither one of them are terribly constrained in their styles. Both of them want to dominate the situation."

Read the Wall Street Journal's full report at this link (subscription required).

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