From shoe lifts to avoiding a ‘Tulsi Gabbard moment’: Inside Harris and Trump’s very different debate prep

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s approaches to debate prep are, it seems, as different as their politics.

While Harris has been hunkering down with a circle of trusted and experienced advisors – with one even donning three-inch shoe lifts and an ill-fitting suit to play Trump – the former president is reportedly “not spending a lot of time” preparing for the September 10 debate on ABC News.

The vice president has not appeared on the debate stage since 2020 when she faced off with then-vice president Mike Pence, where one of the most memorable moments came from the fly that landed on his head for two minutes and subsequently went viral.

This time, in preparation for what will mark the first time the two presidential candidates have ever come face to face, the Democratic contender is being put through her paces by Phillipe Reines, who is reprising his role as Trump as he did for Hillary Clinton back in 2016.

“Before donning the ill-fitting suit I had tailored, my preparation included studying the 11 Republican primary debates in which Trump participated,” Reines revealed in theWashington Post in 2020.

“Watching each three times: once start to finish; then only exchanges involving Trump; and finally only Trump, standing at a lectern in my living room with the sound off to focus entirely on his gestures and body language.”

Last month, Reines was spotted wearing a long tie – but no wig – at Howard University in Washington, where Harris took part in a mock debate at her alma mater, according to The New York Times. 

Besides Reines, Harris’s inner debate prep circle also consists of long-time aide Rohini Kosoglu, Karen Dunn, an attorney who prepared Harris for the 2020 vice presidential debate, and Sean Clegg, who was a lead