Trump at Fox News townhall: Unable to adjust his strategy? | DW News

we stay in the US where Donald Trump has held a town hall on friendly Turf on the Fox News Channel the event took place as Trump faces a transformed race for the White House the former president has watched his lead in opinion polls evaporate since Joe Biden endorsed vice president kamla Harris as Democratic party nominee the two Rivals will come face to face next Tuesday in their first TV debate after the assin let's get more from d W Steven Beardsley from our us election team Steven good morning what stood out to you in this uh event what were your main takeaways brish this wasn't just friendly Turf this was uh hosted by Shan Hannity someone who is has styled himself as an unofficial adviser to Donald Trump it's very clear that this was a campaign event masquerading as a town hall um you had lots of tear you had lots of whooping for him there were no questions actually from the audience the whole time at least in the first hour we learn later that some questions were asked they'll be aired tomorrow on Shan Hannity Show um basically what stands out is this is really preparation for the debate that's coming up this is how Trump likes to prepare he likes to have his name chanted he likes these one-sided events but he also likes to insist that the other side that kamla Harris isn't ready for the stage that she is not prepared that she is naive still and that she's going to fail on the stage and part of doing that is one suggesting that she knows the questions beforehand coming up to the debate that it's going to be uh deceptive what's going on there another excuse me another is by talking up about the preparations around the debate whether they're going to be allowed to stand be seated if there's going to be a live mic on the whole time these issues that really sort of suggest that the other side is trying to manipulate the terms of the debate and then of course finally by having this great big stage this big presentation that you call a Town Hall and saying I'm here I'm available I'm not hiding anything the other side however they're trying to work the details of this coming debate one other thing that stood out Brash most of America on this day was talking about a shooting that happened another school shooting in the state of Georgia four people killed I believe from a 14-y old with a gun this was barely mentioned in this debate it just shows gun control still not a viable issue for this party and for this candidate so what can we expect from this debate next Tuesday yeah I think this is all preparation for it so this is the big question we're going to want to see if if that spark has been lost by the Trump campaign a lot of people would say look at the opinion polls KLA Harris has come up but we also know that in the US this election takes place through Electoral College votes that means you have to win States not the overall amount of Voters something that Democrats have had better luck doing in recent elections and that in many of those Battleground States we'd call them the key states that these opponents have to win Trump is actually doing better or he's very close so in many ways the the momentum appears to have shifted but in reality not quite so much what's going to have to happen is we're going to wonder first of all if there's going to be a policy debate you know the Republicans would like to stress immigration for one the economy Harris would like to stress Reproductive Rights that's an area where she does well abortion rights um but really this is going to be for Harris about proving that that momentum that she's had in the overall polls that it's legitimate that it's grounded in something real she's going to have to stay stable she's going to have to withstand his attacks he wants to prove on the other hand that he can rattle her and speaking about these Battleground States I mean this debate sorry this town hall was held in the Battleground state of Pennsylvania and uh although the opinion poll seem to indicate that kamla Harris has a lead over Trump but she's not doing too well in these Battleground States is that correct yeah in many of them she's still struggling right and so in the states that she has to win States like North Carolina uh maybe not so much this year but in past Elections North Carolina was still in play Virginia Florida she's going to have to have a clear lead and start showing a clear lead it's going to have to really uh hook in and take effect and that's something that we haven't quite seen yet even if in the general mainstream polls we're seeing there is more movement in her Direction so this is something that both candidates are going to Target during that debate they want these undecided voters to some extent they know Trump they know his Bluster they may not know haris as well and so she's going to have to prove herself by standing up to him on that stage we'll leave it there for the moment DW Steven Bley thanks so much and joining me now is DW Stefan Simons Stefan what stood out to you in that event well actually the biggest thing standing out was that nothing new happened nothing new was said there was no Donald Trump having anything new in terms of criticizing the Biden Harris Administration policies nothing on the agenda same old stuff uh immigration uh saying Mexico and other countries sent their worst into the United States and we the United States are opening our borders responsible for this Biden and Harris the other U thing he said and which stood out in terms of he's repeating this over and over and over again his first day in office he's promising the largest de ation measures the world has ever seen uh nothing new in terms of his attacks against Camala Harris um be it personal or not uh under the belt line or not so there was nothing new one thing important to detect here and to mention is I think there was a little bit of angst uh displayed by uh former president Donald Trump in regards to the upcoming debate you just mentioned uh he mentioned over and over again that he assumes that ABC that's the network which will host this debate has given or will give Cala Harris questions and perhaps even the answers to those questions that's of course uh not factual and speculation on his part but those are the things standing out so nothing new as you so clearly pointed out we have seen Kamala Harris gaining ground in opinion polls does this mean that we are not going to see a change in Trump's approach then yeah I don't think he's actually and you think here here's what the experts say here's what The Observers say who really KNE deep into this is and and and people who know Donald Trump uh and I'm not one of the intimate I don't have intimate knowledge of Donald Trump but he can't be different um you can't train a horse a new trick an old horse in utri and he is an old horse so he's doing the same thing over and over and over again I don't think that he can uh even if the campaign wants him to change one way or another his attacks or his demeanor or anything his approach towards commala Harris and the new numbers the new poll numbers where she leads in some states um I don't think he can do it uh and this is Le at least what all the experts say he is not able to change he is not if maybe intellectually but something in him he cannot change he's riding the old horse the older text always the same from Donald Trump so far at least so what do you think was the point of this Fox News event is it simply another attempt to Rally the Trump base yeah I think so he's catering to his own base the crowd there in the studio was of course uh jubilant and and and it was a home run for him so that was a very very friendly crowd uh you see America is not only divided maybe culturally and politically for sure but also when it comes to habits uh of of people what TV program they watch so there's a specific crowd and a specific segment in our in America here which watches uh Fox News that's a conservative or leading to the right very right uh populace who does that and there's others who then go in the other direction MSNBC CNN and so on so very divided in this this was a a home run and a home game for Donald Trump trying to uh say the same old things to the crowd who has probably heard it about a thousand times so home run on home turf but let's see if Trump does that well in the debate as well Stefan Simons thank you so much for tracking that story for us