Philippe Reines, a former deputy assistant secretary of state and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton, is standing in for Trump in observe debates forward of the particular occasion on 10 September.
This marks the second time he has performed the position, having beforehand acted as Trump throughout Clinton’s preparations for her 2016 debates.He reportedly takes the job fairly critically.
He talked about on
The Michael Smerconish Program
on Sirius that he dressed up like Trump however prevented sporting an orange face or a wig. At one level, he utilized self-tanner to half his face, however when nobody seen, he didn’t repeat the experiment.
Reines, who had labored on Al Gore’s 2000 presidential marketing campaign earlier than becoming a member of Clinton’s first failed presidential bid in 2008, was as soon as described by
Vogue
journal as Clinton’s “Michael Clayton-esque picture man and fixer.” In her memoir
Onerous Decisions
, Clinton portrayed Reines as “passionate, loyal, and shrewd,” somebody she might “all the time belief to talk his thoughts.”
Having labored for Clinton for 17 years, Reines was a senior adviser when she grew to become secretary of state and was deeply concerned in her second presidential marketing campaign, the place he emerged as her Trump impersonator. About three weeks earlier than Clinton’s first debate with Trump in 2016, Reines joined a workforce of advisers to assist her put together. He famous that he didn’t merely stand round shouting “crooked Hillary!” or repeating “e-mail e-mail e-mail!” since that might not have been productive.
To organize for the position, Reines studied Trump’s performances within the Republican major debates and different boards. He even watched a few of them with the sound turned off to give attention to Trump’s mannerisms and physique language. In a video launched after the 2016 election, Reines is proven bear-hugging Clinton throughout a mock debate as they ready for the potential of an ungainly hug from Trump, which led them to burst into laughter.
Reines emphasised that though he didn’t totally imitate Trump’s behaviour, he aimed to problem Clinton throughout observe periods. In line with him, Trump is each a poor debater and very difficult to debate as a result of sheer variety of falsehoods he tends to claim, which makes it troublesome to counter all of them. Reines suggested a method of balancing between responding to those and sustaining give attention to key messages.
Harris, like Clinton, might face the same problem. Nonetheless, Reines means that the vp is more proficient at countering Trump’s ways, as she has already integrated mocking Trump and his working mate JD Vance into her marketing campaign, portraying them as “bizarre.”
Furthermore, Harris has demonstrated a readiness to match her opponents’ vitality in debates, as seen in 2020 when she responded to interruptions from then vp Mike Pence with the now-famous line: “Mr Vice President, I’m talking.”
Reines believes that to succeed towards Trump, one should undertake a extra aggressive, direct method. In a 2019 article for
Politico
, he argued that Democrats must embrace blunt language of their assaults, abandoning conventional political restraint. Reines is probably going advising Harris to pursue the same technique, encouraging her to hit again as an alternative of getting slowed down in defending her report.
Whereas Reines holds that Clinton gained each of her debates towards Trump in 2016, the general public’s response was not sufficient to safe her victory. Harris, nonetheless, could have the benefit of having the ability to examine Trump’s intensive debate historical past, and her authorized expertise as a prosecutor may give her an edge in dealing with Trump’s unpredictable debate model.
As Harris prepares for her debate, she has repeatedly highlighted her expertise in taking up powerful adversaries as a prosecutor, district lawyer, and lawyer basic, suggesting she is well-prepared to confront Trump instantly. She incessantly tells her marketing campaign audiences: “I do know Donald Trump’s sort.”
