Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) dances as he leaves the stage after speaking alongside former US Representative Tulsi Gabbard during a town hall meeting in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on August 29 2024.
Kamil Krzaczynski Afp | Getty Images
Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has endorsed Republican former President Donald Trump’s campaign, is advising the GOP nominee to focus on Vice President Kamala Harris’s central policy thrusts in their upcoming debate.
Harris “has already shown that she’s trying to move away from her record, to move away from her positions.” Gabbard he said in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Gabbard is part of a small group of Trump advisers helping the former president prepare for the debate, scheduled for Sept. 10 on ABC.
Trump’s campaign insists the candidate does not participate in traditional debate practice sessions. However, Gabbard is uniquely suited to help Trump understand what it would be like to debate Harris, given her first-hand experience during the 2020 Democratic primary.
“What I pointed out at that stage of the 2020 campaign debate was the hypocrisy of it,” Gabbard said.
In July 2019, Gabbard launched a notable attack on Harris during a Democratic primary debate, noting that as a prosecutor Harris had secured prison terms for marijuana violations and accusing Harris of not doing enough to eliminate cash bail .
At the time, criminal justice reform was a very popular issue among Democratic voters.
Five years later, Republicans hope Trump can repeat Gabbard’s success in beating Harris, albeit on completely different issues.
“Kamala Harris is trying to hide from the voters,” Gabbard said Sunday. “She says her position is one thing, but her actions and her record show the exact opposite.”
Compared to Harris’ 2019 Democratic primary platform, her policies for the 2024 general election fall more to the center than to the left, especially on issues like fracking and immigration.
For Trump, however, taking Gabbard’s advice may carry risks as well as potential rewards.
The former congresswoman from Hawaii shares Trump’s conspiratorial view of the way the Biden administration exercises power and regularly accuses the White House targeting “political opponents,” including herself.
If Trump leans into these kinds of conspiracy themes on the debate stage, he could risk drawing attention to his various legal battles or even alienating undecided voters.
But surrogates like Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former Democrat-turned-third-party presidential candidate who recently dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, allow the Republican to portray his campaign as a haven for independents and Democratic renegades.
Trump’s campaign recently added both Gabbard and RFK Jr. to the official transition team, and both are in talks for possible cabinet positions if Trump wins the White House.
