What Biden and Trump do could matter as much as what they say in tomorrow's debate
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President Biden and former President Donald Trump will meet tomorrow for their first debate of this election season. While Biden has been preparing at Camp David, Trump has taken a more informal approach, meeting with advisers and conducting interviews. It'll be a replay of their 2020 debates, with some major changes that are expected to dampen Trump's aggressive style. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez has this story.
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CHRIS WALLACE: Gentlemen, a lot of people have been waiting for this night, so let's get...
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: The first debate between former President Donald Trump and then-Democratic challenger Joe Biden four years ago quickly deteriorated into a mess of angry insults and personal attacks as Trump interrupted Biden over and over.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Vote and let your senators know how strongly you feel.
DONALD TRUMP: Are you going to pack the court?
BIDEN: Let - vote now.
TRUMP: Are you going to pack the court?
BIDEN: Make sure you, in fact...
ORDOÑEZ: The key to Trump's strategy is framing the election as a contest between strength and weakness. During debates, Trump seeks to bulldoze over his opponents. He questions everything that's said.
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BIDEN: The question is...
TRUMP: A lot of new Supreme Court justices...
BIDEN: The question is...
TRUMP: Radical left.
BIDEN: The question - will you shut up, man?
TRUMP: Who is your - listen, who is on your list, Joe?
ORDOÑEZ: It's largely because of those interruptions that this debate switches up the format, eliminating an audience and muting microphones in order to avoid the chaos that marked their first faceoff. The change is largely expected to hurt Trump.
JENNIFER MERCIECA: When there's an audience, he can be very engaging.
ORDOÑEZ: Former debate coach Jennifer Mercieca, who teaches political rhetoric at Texas A&M University, says Trump wants to humiliate his opponent.
MERCIECA: He typically will run over time. He will run over the moderator. He will interrupt. But in this case, he won't be able to do that because they're going to mute his microphone.
ORDOÑEZ: That's one school of thought. Another is that the mute button could actually benefit Trump by tamping down the aggressiveness that rubs some people the wrong way.
JON MCHENRY: And the only hesitation people have in tossing the keys to the car back to former President Trump is that they're worried about his personality.
ORDOÑEZ: Jon McHenry, a Republican pollster, thinks many Americans feel they were financially better off under Trump, which works in his favor. Hogan Gidley, the former White House spokesman under Trump, says the former president may not be able to rip off one of his famous liners, but...
HOGAN GIDLEY: Donald Trump has a way of, no question, being forceful, being tough, but, at the same time being relatable and funny. And I think you'll see all of those different attributes in - on that debate stage.
ORDOÑEZ: In Philadelphia this weekend, Trump teased he could go either direction.
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TRUMP: How should I handle him? Should I be tough and nasty? Or should I be...
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TRUMP: Should I be - she's saying no. Should I be tough and nasty and just say you're the worst president in history? Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak?
ORDOÑEZ: Philippe Reines, who played Trump during Hillary Clinton's debate preparations eight years ago, expects Trump's anger will win out, and that will ultimately work against his efforts to paint Biden as not being with it.
PHILIPPE REINES: Being yelled at by Donald Trump from 10 feet away is hardly the time someone is going to fall asleep. It's like, you know, he's - Donald Trump is a human smelling salt.
ORDOÑEZ: But Reines says he will be watching one moment very closely - when the two are introduced and meet onstage.
REINES: You know, Donald Trump is going to treat that like the 100-meter dash - smile, the double thumbs, the - getting to the middle stage before Joe Biden.
ORDOÑEZ: Debates are all about contrast, and it's a moment that neither will be talking, and there's nothing to do but to watch them walk and maybe shake hands.
Franco Ordoñez, NPR News, Washington.
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