Donald Trump's campaign had concerns before TV debate with Kamala Harris, source reveals

In less than two months, the elections for the next US president will take place in the USA. The focus is on Republican ex-President Donald Trump, who has recently been in the news for a failed assassination attempt, and current US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for the Democrats and has already achieved good results in preliminary polls.

On Tuesday 10 September, the day Americans were eagerly waiting for finally arrived. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris went face-to-face to show the world who should become the next President of the United States. Strangely enough, this was also the first time that the two have met in person.

Donald Trump's election campaign team is worried

Both presidential candidates had a lot to gain from this debate, but a lot to lose as well. For Trump, the reactions to his performance have not been so positive as he was fact-checked multiple times by the presenters and aggressively attacked by Harris. It turns out, his campaign team had concerns about Donald Trump's performance prior to debate night.

As reported by The Guardian and AOL, an insider spoke out about which Trump would show up to the debate. According to them, the campaign team surrounding the former US president was worried that he could lose his temper during the debate. They claimed that there is an equal chance that a 'happy Trump' or an 'angry Trump' will take to the TV stage.

They were afraid that if Trump became frustrated, he would start to launch personal attacks on Harris—a strategy that has not been working out for the former POTUS during this election campaign.

Donald Trump's performance

During the debate, Trump did seem to heed the advice of his team as the personal jibes on Harris were kept to a minimum. As per Reuters, he mostly addressed her policies but continued to attack Biden, to which Harris responded:

You're not running against Joe Biden, you're running against me.

Despite this, Trump's performance has been labelled 'disastrous' and 'devastating' by multiple media and experts alike. CNN's Chris Wallace commented on the debate and likened it to Biden's performance—after which he resigned from his pursuit to continue his presidency. Wallace said:

I didn't think I was ever going to witness a debate as devastating as [the June debate] where Joe Biden basically tanked his re-election campaign. I think tonight was just as devastating.

The image of the debate to me is she's there happy, smiling, expressive, shaking her head in dismay at things Trump was saying and Trump looked angry, scowling at the moderators'

A section of this article has been translated from Gentside DE.

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Sources used:

Guardian: Advisers worry whether 'happy Trump' or 'angry Trump' will show up to debate

Aol.: Trump's campaign staffers are worried 'angry Trump' will show up to debate and self-sabotage

Reuters: Tone and body language at the Harris-Trump debate speak as loudly as words

Daily Mail: CNN's Chris Wallace claims Donald Trump's performance in debate with Kamala Harris 'just as devastating' as Joe Biden's June disaster