How Trump is poised to drive Clinton ‘crazy’ in debate | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Hillary Clinton has to prepare for two different Donald Trumps at the first presidential debate Monday.

There’s the scripted opponent who stays on message. And there’s the brash showman who says whatever he wants.

Clinton is spending much of the week getting ready for what her aides call the biggest moment of the general election. But it’s complicated by her unorthodox rival, who is, in the words of a top Democrat, “the perfect opponent to drive her crazy.”

“I do not know which Donald Trump will show up,” she said at a recent fundraiser in New York. “Maybe he will try to be presidential and try to convey a gravity that he hasn't done before. Or will he come in and try to insult and try to score some points?”

Clinton has spent weeks reading briefing books to brush up on Trump’s policies and statements, watching Republican primary debates and honing her responses to expected lines of attacks, including the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks, scandal over her private email, even her husband’s infidelities, according to several people familiar with her debate preparation.

She is also engaging in mock debates – though not every day – with a small group, perhaps a half-dozen people, including stand-ins for her opponent and the moderator, aides say. Some sessions might be shorter, others the full 90 minutes. The room has likely been set up to look, sound and feel like the debate venue and the proceeding is being videotaped, according to those who have helped other candidates prepare for debates.

“It’s like a rehearsal for a stage play, where you start out sitting around a table in casual clothes, but move into the dress rehearsal with a set,” said Dan Gerstein, who worked for former Sen. Joe Lieberman when he ran for president and vice president.

Clinton’s husband may pop in the room on occasion, but it’s unlikely he’s there most of the time, so as not to distract her or lead her advisers to speak less freely. Clinton stayed out of the room when her husband prepared for his presidential debates in 1992 and 1996 except to urge him to take a break, those who worked for him say.

The debate in New York, which could attract an astonishing 100 million viewers, comes as the race has tightened, with polls now showing that Clinton’s large lead has dwindled.

While other candidates including her husband and Barack Obama went to secluded sites far from the distractions of home to get ready for debates, Clinton this week hunkered down at her home in Chappaqua, New York.

She is relying on the same team that Obama used and she used during the Democratic primaries: Ron Klain, a onetime chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, and lawyer Karen Dunn.

They are aided by campaign Chairman John Podesta, policy adviser Jake Sullivan, communications director Jennifer Palmieri, pollster and top strategist Joel Benenson and lawyer Robert Barnett, who is also helping Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, in his debate prep. The campaign has declined to say who is playing Trump in mock debates.

A policy wonk, Clinton is already well-versed on the issues and her own proposals, so she is likely spending much of the time focused on Trump, said Matt Bennett, who worked on both of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns.

She has been on a debate stage dozens of times, including her Senate races in 2000 and 2006, her presidential run in 2008 and the 2016 primaries. But she’s never faced an opponent quite like Trump before.

She expects Trump to try to be the more controlled candidate that he has been in recent weeks after hiring a new campaign manager. She also thinks the old Trump won’t be able to hide the whole time.

“If he has to endure a 90-minute session with a lot of spontaneous conversation back and forth . . . it may be impossible for him to not slip back into the unscripted version of Donald Trump. That’s who he really is,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said. “We expect that we have to contend with both Trumps maybe in the course of the same debate.”

Paul Begala, chief strategist to Bill Clinton who is an adviser to a pro-Hillary Clinton super political action committee, said Clinton relied on doing her homework and the facts about the issues, which made an opponent like Trump frustrating to debate.

“What makes her comfortable is the facts,” Begala said. “It’s as if God or the devil or fate constructed the perfect opponent to drive her crazy.”

Trump has downplayed the importance of debate preparation and has several events scheduled this week, including a Saturday night campaign rally in the swing state of Virginia.

Clinton aides acknowledge that Trump did well in Republican primary debates when he was on the stage with several opponents but they don’t know how that will translate to a one-on-one exchange.

“Donald Trump, certainly during the Republican primary debates, showed his ability to win debates purely based on his showmanship and his flair for the dramatic,” Fallon said.

Clinton aides say they learned something about how Trump debates from watching the recent Commander-in-Chief Forum, the candidates’ first joint appearance.

“They weren't together but they were one-on-one in the same hour . . . we thought that was useful,” Palmieri said. “What we have never seen is one-on-one.”