Maggie Haberman Expects That Donald Trump "Will Be Very Mean" Toward Joe Biden in the Upcoming Debate

Well-known reporter for The New York Times, Maggie Haberman, has shared her thoughts on how Donald Trump might act in the upcoming debate with President Joe Biden. The debate is set to be hosted by CNN on Thursday. Haberman, who has covered Trump extensively, admits it's hard to predict exactly what he'll do. "Predictions of how he is going to actually be are probably not worth very much," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper, as per HuffPost.

Haberman points out that it's unclear if Trump will use what he's learning in these sessions. Most candidates spend a lot of time getting ready for these big TV debates but Trump is doing things differently. He's focusing more on learning about policies instead of practicing debate skills. One big question is whether Trump will interrupt Biden less than he did in their first debate back in 2020. That debate was memorable for how often Trump cut in while Biden was speaking. Haberman thinks Trump might interrupt less this time. "I think that's the lesson he took from the first debate in 2020," she said.

But even if Trump interrupts less, Haberman expects him to be harsh towards Biden. "I think he will be very mean toward Biden. I would be very surprised if he's anything other than that," she predicted. This fits with Trump's usual style of attacking his opponents. Interestingly, Trump has been asking his supporters at rallies how they think he should act in the debate. He's given them two options: "tough and nasty" or "nice and calm." This shows he's thinking about his approach, even if he's not doing traditional debate prep, as per USA Today.

Haberman also shared some insights about how Trump's team views the situation. They believe they made a mistake in 2020 by setting expectations for Biden too low. By constantly suggesting Biden wasn't up to the task, they actually made it easier for him to exceed those low expectations. "There is an awareness in Trump's world that they have lowered the expectations pretty solidly for Biden there," Haberman explained. She added that Trump and his team "were trying to move from, 'Biden can't tie his shoelaces and is gonna trip his way all over the stage,' to trying to suggest that they expect that he will be good in the same way he was, say, at the State of the Union, several months ago."

This shift in strategy shows that Trump's team is probably learning from their past mistakes and with that, they're now trying to avoid underestimating Biden. Trump himself has said he's "not underestimating" Biden for this debate, as per The Hill. Haberman also noted that Trump has reflected on his performance in the 2020 debate. "He has said to people multiple times that he knows that he interrupted too much in the first debate with Biden in 2020," she reported. This suggests Trump might be aiming for a different approach this time around.