Donald Trump receives debate advice from Kamala Harris' final Republican opponent
Steve Cooley draws on his firsthand experience from a competitive election campaign against Kamala Harris.
TroibNews 
SACRAMENTO, California — As Donald Trump gears up to debate Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, a former political rival of Harris has some guidance for him: employ the same tactics you used against Joe Biden back in June.
Steve Cooley, who competed against Harris in California's 2010 attorney general election, was Harris’s first Republican opponent in a televised debate. Cooley, who narrowly lost to Harris, has kept a close eye on her career trajectory and agrees with Trump that she lacks the qualifications for the presidency, particularly in crucial areas like the economy and immigration.
“It’ll be obvious that she’s inept, but let her show that,” Cooley remarked in a pre-debate interview. “He doesn’t need to say it. Let her show it. It’s kind of like the thing with Biden — he didn’t need to say, ‘Hey, you’re dementia-ridden and you don’t know what’s going on.’”
During the pivotal debate with Biden, Trump chose a subdued approach, allowing Biden's hesitations and errors to speak for themselves. However, maintaining this level of restraint might be more challenging against Harris, whose surging popularity has jolted his campaign.
Harris's team did not respond to requests for comments on the upcoming debate.
When asked about advice for Trump, Cooley mentioned, “She’ll be prepared in the sense that she’ll have some set memorized lines, but she is not capable, in my view, of any kind of serious critical thinking. If she does not have a teleprompter or notes in front of her, she will stumble and fumble and bumble. What he has to do is not personalize it, just let her demonstrate how inept she is. He doesn’t need to point out the obvious.”
Regarding Harris’s policy weaknesses, Cooley stated, “Obviously, the border is a complete unadulterated disaster of biblical proportions. That is the fault of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and, more importantly, the people pulling their strings.”
He continued, “She does not know economics at all. She just doesn’t. And Trump, based upon his experience as a business person, is pretty familiar with the terminology and what words mean. And she will be weak in that arena, which is a weak policy issue for them too.”
On her past career as a prosecutor, Cooley remarked, “She wasn’t a very good prosecutor. And whether she was a prosecutor in terms of her employment or not, I don’t think she developed the skills to think on her feet. I don’t think she was much of a trial lawyer or much of a trial prosecutor, from what I’ve heard from others who did know her.”
Furthermore, Cooley suggested that Trump should avoid stating the obvious about Harris’s capabilities and instead allow her performance to reveal her ineptitude. When discussing her strengths, he expressed skepticism, noting her lack of meaningful interaction with the media and suggesting it would leave her unprepared for the intense questioning often seen in media interactions.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
Steve Cooley, who competed against Harris in California's 2010 attorney general election, was Harris’s first Republican opponent in a televised debate. Cooley, who narrowly lost to Harris, has kept a close eye on her career trajectory and agrees with Trump that she lacks the qualifications for the presidency, particularly in crucial areas like the economy and immigration.
“It’ll be obvious that she’s inept, but let her show that,” Cooley remarked in a pre-debate interview. “He doesn’t need to say it. Let her show it. It’s kind of like the thing with Biden — he didn’t need to say, ‘Hey, you’re dementia-ridden and you don’t know what’s going on.’”
During the pivotal debate with Biden, Trump chose a subdued approach, allowing Biden's hesitations and errors to speak for themselves. However, maintaining this level of restraint might be more challenging against Harris, whose surging popularity has jolted his campaign.
Harris's team did not respond to requests for comments on the upcoming debate.
When asked about advice for Trump, Cooley mentioned, “She’ll be prepared in the sense that she’ll have some set memorized lines, but she is not capable, in my view, of any kind of serious critical thinking. If she does not have a teleprompter or notes in front of her, she will stumble and fumble and bumble. What he has to do is not personalize it, just let her demonstrate how inept she is. He doesn’t need to point out the obvious.”
Regarding Harris’s policy weaknesses, Cooley stated, “Obviously, the border is a complete unadulterated disaster of biblical proportions. That is the fault of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and, more importantly, the people pulling their strings.”
He continued, “She does not know economics at all. She just doesn’t. And Trump, based upon his experience as a business person, is pretty familiar with the terminology and what words mean. And she will be weak in that arena, which is a weak policy issue for them too.”
On her past career as a prosecutor, Cooley remarked, “She wasn’t a very good prosecutor. And whether she was a prosecutor in terms of her employment or not, I don’t think she developed the skills to think on her feet. I don’t think she was much of a trial lawyer or much of a trial prosecutor, from what I’ve heard from others who did know her.”
Furthermore, Cooley suggested that Trump should avoid stating the obvious about Harris’s capabilities and instead allow her performance to reveal her ineptitude. When discussing her strengths, he expressed skepticism, noting her lack of meaningful interaction with the media and suggesting it would leave her unprepared for the intense questioning often seen in media interactions.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
