Like a football team that must shake off defeat in order to prepare for the next game, Donald Trump has a short time to get over his drubbing in the first presidential debate and get ready for the next. He has, instead, been whining like a kitchen blender about the moderator, the microphone and his opponent while continuing to draw attention to the worst parts of his performance.
Advisors who want Trump to win the next debate, on October 9, must get him to change. But to do this, they must overcome the candidate’s 40-plus years of doing things his way. To appreciate the daunting nature of this task, consider just 10 things Trump could do to prepare for the next debate, and why it’s likely he won’t be able to do any of them.
1) Accept your defeat in the first debate
Trump likes to say “I’m a winner” and is not accustomed to losing, which may explain the poor sportsmanship he has shown since Hillary Clinton defeated him. Ignoring real poll results that show he was swamped, Trump has ordered aides to stop saying he lost. Of course, this kind of denial means that no one can ask the emperor to put on some clothes. He won’t look down to see his own nakedness.
2) Learn to apologize
When he was asked in the first debate what he would say to African-Americans about his scandalous role in the “birther” controversy that questioned President Obama’s citizenship, Trump replied, “I say nothing.” You will search in vain for an example of Trump ever taking responsibility for the damage he has done to any individual, community or nation, though examples abound. He is not going to learn how to do it now.
3) Play by the rules
Manners may not count when you fire people on reality TV, but they matter in a two-way presidential debate. Trump looked like a 6-year-old as he interrupted with witticisms such as “Wrong!” as Clinton spoke during the first debate. But as Trump told me, he believes he is the same person he was in first grade. His advisers are not going to get him to mature into an adult now.
4) Act like you want the job
One of the oddest moments in the first debate saw Trump say that if he loses the election he’ll still get to Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington because he has a new hotel there. Someone who wants to occupy the White House shouldn’t suggest he’d be satisfied with a hotel down the street. But Trump is first and always a salesman — not a statesman — and he will never pass up an opportunity to get free advertising for his business.
5) Stop bragging
During the first debate Trump’s cringe-worthy moments included bragging about not paying any federal taxes and about betting on a housing crisis. As he crowed about his wealth, he added that he was speaking “not in a braggadocious way.” But of course he was bragging. Boasting and bragging are off-putting to debate watchers but they are essential elements of Trump’s personality and he will not stop.
6) Don’t make so many faces
On the day after the first debate, body language experts noted Trump’s negative body language and timid facial expression. (These signals were enough for one reporter to call Trump the loser after viewing the contest with the sound turned off.) Advisers may want Trump to control his exaggerated nonverbals, but this is not something this rubber-faced man can do.
7) Prepare and practice
Always ready to use a little gamesmanship, Trump allowed his campaign staff to broadcast the fact that he was taking a confidently casual approach to the first debate. He said himself, “I believe you can prep too much for these things.” The result was obvious, as Trump seemed ill-equipped with either arguments or rhetorical parries to use against his opponent. Could he do differently? Trump told me that he doesn’t like to read and prefers to depend on instinct, which makes it’s hard to imagine he will suddenly become open to training. Another person might turn a debate defeat as a moment to learn. This is not Trump’s way.
8) Update your references
In the first debate Trump referenced Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who died in 1964, to make a point about America’s pursuit of the ISIS terror organization. Those who got As in history, know of MacArthur, but the reference surely bypassed millions who watched the debate. Trump must have heard a lot about the general when he attended a military school in the 1960s, but he needs to update himself. Given the evidence that he doesn’t understand the workings of our most vital technology, the internet, modernizing his knowledge base would be a big challenge.
9) Abandon the Russians
Despite the evidence showing that recent cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee and others emanated from Russia, Trump told the first debate audience, “She’s [Clinton] saying ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ but I don’t.” This stand is consistent with Trump’s earlier sloughing off of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and his expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. Because everything is personal for him, Trump likes Putin in part because Putin has said he likes him. Don’t expect him to change his mind about the Russians on the basis of geopolitics. They are going to have to insult him personally before he does that.
10) Be nicer
In the first debate, Clinton pointed out his penchant for insulting people and Trump talked about “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.” After the debate, Trump decided to make veiled threats about using President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal against her. Nastiness doesn’t play well in a general election when a candidate must appeal to those beyond his or her base. However being nasty has always been a key element of Trump’s repertoire, as shown by his feuds with Cher, Bette Midler, Rosie O’Donnell and others. Trump once told me that he doesn’t respect most people because they don’t deserve it. He is not likely to become respectful overnight.
Among Trump’s advisers there is one, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who shares much in common with him. Like Trump, he poses as a tough man and wants the world to believe that his meanness is a virtue. He is also, like his candidate, a thrice-married man who feels entitled to criticize Hillary Clinton’s lifelong marriage.
Consider Giuliani’s persona and you see someone who understands Trump on a gut level.
After the first debate, he said that perhaps Trump should drop out of the two that remain. Trump’s record of bankruptcies and abandoned projects shows this is the one bit of advice he might be able to follow.
