Spin Cycle: Debate Night Is Looming, And Harris Has Everything To Lose

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

The ABC presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is looming, so naturally the media’s focus is on what could happen when the two finally face off for all the marbles.

On ABC’s “This Week,” both Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) and former Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) were asked to weigh in on how Trump was likely to prepare for a debate against Harris.

Sanders began with a jab at Harris’ persistent avoidance of the press since she vaulted to the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket, pointing out the fact that the American people knew Trump much better than they knew Harris because she has yet to answer any real policy questions.

“It’s so rare that we hear from her, that we hear her take questions or that we know anything that she actually stands for,” she said, arguing that the debate was more of a “must-win” for Harris than it was for Trump.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells @JonKarl the debate Tuesday is “more important” for Kamala Harris than Donald Trump.

“It’s so rare that we hear from her, that we hear her take questions or that we know anything that she actually stands for.” https://t.co/QL4o4hLmii pic.twitter.com/9TiOTwGyIG

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 8, 2024

Sanders, who previously served as Trump’s White House Press Secretary, went on to say that he was preparing for a hostile debate environment every day by taking questions from an adversarial press and doing interviews while Harris hid behind campaign aides who quietly “leaked” her flip-flops to friendly media outlets.

“He’ll go in game time ready just as he does for every interview, every rally that he does. This is not something that is a heavy lift for him,” she said. “Every day is debate prep for Donald Trump.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells @JonKarl that “every day is debate prep for Donald Trump.”

“He’ll go in game time ready just as he does for every interview, every rally that he does. This is not something that is a heavy lift for him.” https://t.co/dtMGBibcIo pic.twitter.com/0hnnQJs4B3

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 8, 2024

Christie also weighed in on the debate during a panel discussion moderated by host Jonathan Karl, and he argued that Trump was not likely to prioritize debate prep ahead of Tuesday’s event. “He’s just going to go in there and wing it,” he claimed.

Former NJ Gov. Chris Christie, who helped prep Donald Trump for previous debates in 2016 and 2020, says the former president doesn’t think he needs to prepare for his face-off with Vice Pres. Kamala Harris.

“He’s just going to go in there and wing it.” https://t.co/x1yAOvZCfY pic.twitter.com/2iyq5IxykB

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 8, 2024

Karl also brought in Martha Raddatz, who moderated a debate between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, to talk about her impressions – and she suggested that Trump’s tendency to debate the moderators as well as his opponents could prove a “challenge.”

“He would go after the moderators too. I mean, specifically, try to debate us, and that was a challenge,” she explained.

.@MarthaRaddatz reflects on moderating Donald Trump’s debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016: “He would go after the moderators too. I mean, specifically, try to debate us, and that was a challenge.” https://t.co/4Kvsgn7PU3 pic.twitter.com/BWOW9Fh7zE

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 8, 2024

Voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, according to Philadelphia-based NBC News reporter Lauren Mayk, are hoping to hear some “specifics” from both candidates on Tuesday. Mayk joined a panel discussion on “Meet the Press,” where she told host Kristen Welker that at least one voter had put it to her this way: “I think I know their ideas. I want to know their policies.”

Welker also pointed out the fact that despite Harris being a sitting senator throughout Trump’s entire first term as president, Tuesday’s debate will be there first time the two meet in person.

WATCH: Pennsylvania voters tell @NBCPhiladelphia’s @Laurenjmayk that they’re looking for “specifics” from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in Tuesday’s debate.

“One voter told me, ‘I think I know their ideas. I want to know their policies.’” pic.twitter.com/dtdVGO6Swn

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 8, 2024

On “Fox News Sunday,” Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) told anchor Shannon Bream that the number-one thing that Trump needed to do at Tuesday’s debate was to “let Kamala Harris talk, something she’s been reluctant to do unless she was reading a teleprompter.”

WATCH: @JohnCornyn on his expectations for the presidential debate, the priorities if he becomes the Senate GOP leader, government funding and the border on #FoxNewsSunday pic.twitter.com/KECjR9cN28

— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) September 8, 2024

Bream then quoted The New York Times’ assessment of the situation, calling the debate “a high-risk encounter” for Harris, as it would be the longest time she’s spent in the spotlight, unscripted, since becoming the Democratic Party’s de facto nominee when President Joe Biden was forced off the ticket.

WATCH: Debate prep experts Jim Messina @Messina2012 & Brett O’Donnell @odonnellb preview Tuesday’s presidential debate. pic.twitter.com/zCizXvJGO0

— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) September 8, 2024

Former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told Bream that Harris definitely had the most to lose going into Tuesday’s debate — and said that the battle was likely to be uphill: “Let’s be honest, Donald Trump is the best counter-puncher in the history of American politics.”