Republican nominee Donald Trump doesn’t plan to participate in mock debates with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton according to a New York Times report Monday.
“I believe you can prep too much for those things,” Trump previously told reporters. “It can be dangerous. You can sound scripted or phony — like you’re trying to be someone you’re not. I don’t want to present a false front. I mean, it’s possible we’ll do a mock debate, but I don’t see a real need.”
“I don’t want to present a false front. I mean, it’s possible we’ll do a mock debate, but I don’t see a real need.” Trump told the New York Times.
The Times reported that conservative radio host Laura Ingraham offered to play the role of Clinton during the mock debate, which would have taken place Aug. 21, but the campaign declined the offer.
Trump did ask his advisors questions about the debate for several hours, including questions about debate topics and potential moderators. “I know how to handle Hillary,” Trump told reporters, relying on his authenticity, adding that Clinton will come across as a “typical politician spouting rehearsed lines.”
The Clinton campaign will attempt to goad the Republican nominee to attack Clinton and get him off prepared talking points.
Advisors to Clinton believe the Democratic nominee can’t prepare enough. The campaign interviewed the writer for Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” and poured through hours of GOP primary debates.
“He is the unpredictable X factor,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“He’s an unconventional candidate,” Conway said. “And he’s not going to prepare the way Hillary does, which is … locking her in a room and cramming her head with all those binders and getting the Hollywood types that she raised gazillions of dollars with in fundraisers.”
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon talked about how seriously the Democratic nominee takes the fall debates. “She feels like it is a proving ground, that this is a job interview,” Fallon told the Washington Post. “I think she will approach the debate with a great deal of seriousness and a sense of purpose, and also keenly aware that Donald Trump is capable of anything.”
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