'Know your opponent': Apprentice star schools Biden on giving Trump 'rope to hang himself'
A former contestant on "The Apprentice" encouraged President Biden to look for opportunities to get under Donald Trump's skin and throw him off during the debate.
Speaking to MSNBC, Tara Dowdell, a season three contestant, said that Biden is likely preparing to debate Trump on the terms that he denies basic facts.
Her other piece of advice is to "know your opponent," particularly when it comes to the way he will get "down and dirty" in the debate.
"We know he's going to be wild and probably unhinged and constantly interrupting President Biden," she said, harkening back to the first 2020 debate in which Biden ultimately had to tell Trump to "shut up."
"Trump is going to be Trump. I think he's preparing to debate him on those terms. I think he's going to let Trump do what he does because it's a turn-off for a lot of voters, right? Particularly the reasonable voters, the ones Joe Biden is seeking to persuade," said Dowdell. "Those people do not like a wild, nasty person. I think he's going to give Trump rope to hang himself a bit, too."
But the key opportunity comes from the fact that "Trump is enormously sensitive."
"He is definitely someone that is easily offended, particularly if you're making fun of him," Dowdell said. "I think that's also going to be a strategy of President Biden in debate prep. Trump does not have thick skin. He has a big ego and thin skin."
She recalled Trump rehearsing lines for "The Apprentice," and he would deliver them, stop everything, and then do it over and over again. That's not possible in a debate.
"So, he was very much prepared. I think his strategy is to lower expectations by saying he's not going to prepare," she explained of Trump. "He absolutely will. He does before every ramble. That's because he's lost some steps. But he practices his name-calling, and that's who Trump is."
NBC News reporter Gary Grumbach said both men are used to hearing "yes, sir" and "Mr. President," but during the debate, they will be more humbled.
"And it is going to get a little bit personal, and that's where President Biden hopes to push back a little bit and attack a little bit towards former President Trump as well," said Grumbach. "Because we do know former President Trump does have the ability to get under people's skins, but the Biden administration hopes that President Biden will be able to push back on that."
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Former Apprentice contestant suggests Biden try to get under Trump's thin skin in debate youtu.be