Harris ought to placed on her prosecutor pants when she fits up for the massive Trump debate  

Donald Trump thinks he’s exhibiting up for a debate on Sept. 10. Kamala Harris ought to flip it right into a trial. 

Before she got into politics, Kamala Harris was a prosecutor. She’s undoubtedly dealt with dedication proceedings the place it was essential to persuade a jury {that a} defendant has a mental disorder that makes them dangerous. 

An excellent trial isn’t nearly proof; it’s about weaving that proof collectively right into a compelling story. Typically, it’s a matter of becoming the small, seemingly unrelated items of proof collectively that actually convinces a jury. 

In Trump’s case, that ought to be straightforward to do. 

For years, Trump’s weird statements and outright lies have been dismissed merely as “Trump being Trump.” What number of instances have we heard that you need to take the ex-president “seriously but not literally”? By normalizing Trump’s conduct as simply the best way he’s, we’ve given him a go on statements and behaviors that might have destroyed another candidate. 

In different phrases, even Trump’s future unhealthy conduct has already been “priced in” by voters. 

That works to Trump’s benefit — except you’ll be able to take what all people already is aware of about him and reframe it. So when Trump begins lying about the 2020 election, for instance, or the Biden administration’s report, or the polls, and many others., Kamala Harris ought to look straight into the digital camera and say: “What you simply heard is nonsense. However I don’t assume Trump is mendacity. I believe he truly believes all of the ridiculous issues he says. Whenever you get that 3 a.m. call, you need to have each toes firmly planted in actuality. Donald Trump doesn’t.

“The primary requirement for the presidency,” she ought to proceed, “earlier than you get to coverage, is having a agency grip on actuality. Donald Trump desires to resolve an entire bunch of issues that solely exist inside his head. He thinks violent crime is uncontrolled, however the crime fee is dropping and has been for years. He desires to ‘Drill, child, drill’ to struggle an imaginary vitality disaster. America is producing more oil and gas now than at any time in historical past. He will get fixated on crowd size and ratings. He even thinks he can control the weather to his benefit. 

“This isn’t amusing. It’s very unhappy. Let’s name these what they’re. They’re delusions and they’re getting worse. We will’t afford to have a delusional president in right this moment’s world.” 

Each time Donald Trump lies, whether or not it’s about election denial, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Russia or no matter, Harris ought to start her response by framing the lie as a part of his delusional dysfunction. And when Trump blows up at this remedy, as he’ll, his overreaction turns into one more exhibit within the case she is constructing towards him. 

One huge benefit of this strategy is that you simply don’t need to spend your entire time fact-checking Trump. That’s a dropping technique in a debate setting as a result of he can confidently assert lies and misinformation far faster than you’ll be able to clarify why he’s flawed. Confidently asserting that Trump is spouting nonsense after which explaining why that’s vital — as an alternative of attempting to parse out the lies themselves — works as a result of even his supporters acknowledge that Trump usually lies and exaggerates. 

There’s at the moment a dispute between the campaigns concerning whether one candidate’s microphone should be off whereas the opposite is talking in the course of the debate. The amusing factor is that now, contrasting the big Trump-Biden debate this summer season, it’s the Trump campaign that wants to keep the microphones muted. The Harris marketing campaign desires the microphones on in order that Trump might be Trump — and all people can hear it. 

This technique would work greatest with the microphones off. If Trump can’t interrupt, Harris can have a greater alternative to make her case that Trump is delusional and mentally unfit to be president. And having seen how forceful and relentless Harris might be when she wants to, there isn’t a query that Trump will present loads of fireworks after he’s pressured to face quietly and hearken to Harris humiliate him. 

You assume Trump bought off to a nasty begin on the National Association of Black Journalists? Simply wait till Kamala Harris begins publicly becoming him for a straitjacket. 

In case you evaluate the Trump of 2015 with the Trump of today, it’s instantly clear that he has been progressively slipping. Eight years in the past, I disagreed together with his insurance policies as a result of I believed they have been harmful. I nonetheless do, however now a lot of these insurance policies are each harmful and untethered from actuality. Wanting to construct a border wall is one factor. Eager to deploy the U.S. military against American citizens to struggle an imaginary crime wave is one thing else. 
 
Harris shouldn’t debate Trump, she ought to prosecute him within the courtroom of public opinion. If she does, God is aware of there’s no scarcity of proof. 

Chris Truax is an appellate lawyer who served as Southern California chair for John McCain’s main marketing campaign in 2008.