Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it would be a “waste of time” to try to debunk former President Trump’s arguments in a debate.
Clinton explained in an op-ed, published Tuesday in The New York Times, that she is the only person who has debated both President Biden and Trump, adding that she knows “the excruciating pressure of getting on that stage.” She debated Biden when he was a senator in the 2008 Democratic primary and debated Trump three times during the 2016 presidential election.
“It is a waste of time to try to refute Mr. Trump’s arguments as in a normal debate,” she wrote. “It is almost impossible to identify what his arguments are. He starts with nonsense and then rambles into nonsense. This has only gotten worse in the years since we debated.”
“I was not surprised that, after a recent meeting, several chief executives said that Mr. Trump, as one journalist described it, ‘couldn’t hold a straight line of thought’ and was ‘all over the map,'” Clinton continued. for him they are so low that if he doesn’t literally set himself on fire on Thursday night, some will say he was totally presidential.”
The former first lady also criticized Trump for his debate performance against her and referred to him looming over her on the debate stage.
The first presidential debate of the 2024 election, hosted by CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will take place Thursday starting at 9 p.m. EDT. Biden and Trump have been preparing for a showdown later this week, with the former president already preparing his response to a potentially strong performance from the current president.
Clinton said Trump’s strategies “will fail” if Biden “is as direct and forceful as he was” during his State of the Union address.
She advised readers to pay attention to three things in the debate: listen to how each candidate talks about people, “focus on the fundamentals” and think about the choice between “chaos and competence.”
“This election is between a convicted felon seeking revenge and a president who delivers results for the American people,” she added. “No matter what happens in the debate, it’s an easy choice.”
Clinton repeatedly criticized Trump ahead of the November election, saying in April that all Americans should fear the “kind of threats” made by the former president. She also joined Biden alongside her husband, former President Clinton, at a fundraiser earlier this month that raised more than $8 million.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
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