Former Hillary Clinton adviser on what it takes to get ready for a debate

Donald Trump and President Biden are taking different approaches to debate preparation ahead of Thursday night Showdown President Biden has been at Camp David with his campaign team led by former white house chief of staff Ron Clan a source tells CBS News Biden has been participating in mock debates with his personal attorney Bob Bower who is expected to be playing the role of trump meanwhile the former president has held a series of meetings with his allies to discuss his strategy against Biden but his main focus has not been on debate prep hold up somewhere but on the campaign Trail where he says speaking to voters and the media is the best prep for more let's bring in Philipe rinus he is a former deputy assistant Secretary of State and a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton he also helped prepare her for the presidential debates against Donald Trump in 2016 Phil Philipe I hope I got that pronunciation correct and if I didn't my apologies um close enough uh you let's hope the candidates pronounce better on Thursday night you played Donald Trump in preparation with Hillary Clinton in 2016 how does how does one play the role of Donald Trump well I think at this point uh eight years later we all unfortunately can do it because it's been the same thing I watched a lot of tape um of his debates in the Republican primaries of his various rallies I read a lot of transcripts of speeches or whatever he would call that them um also I was a native New Yorker so I sort of had him in the back of my mind growing up um but the one thing about Donald Trump is that he is a very predictable unpredictable person so once you kind of do the method acting of uh really just diving in it it's it's easy to absorb what is that talk more about that predictable unpredictable well I mean you know I I think every American at this point can do a pretty good SNL imitation of him he has he doesn't have a strategy he has a list his list is basically the things that he at any given point wants to get off his chest they range from uh ranting about his uh election his reelection and what he thinks was taken from him from his first impeachment during his first term to his second impeachment after his first term to his criminal trials now to uh being the gag orders to I'm sure he will say on at the debate that he is being muted because people don't want to hear from him he will act like he never heard or never agreed to the idea of muting so the real question isn't what he will say it's when he will say it in what order he will say it and how he will deliver it I think the big question that a lot of people are asking right now is what tone will he bring will he be the aggressive Trump Trump that we saw in 2020 in that now Infamous debate that a lot of people feel he lost um and that took him down in the polls or does he try to be act for lack of a better word a little more presidential a little more reserved well you know debates are not these distinct separate items from campaigns uh and what I mean by that is the 2016 debates against Hillary reflected the 2016 campaign meaning that Donald Trump for all his Bluster and uh obnoxious uh and exaggeration to put it politely he had a message of uh immigration on Obamacare on jobs leaving America and he laced that into his rallies and he laced that into the debates 2020 for his re-election I don't know what his message was I don't think he had one he was just very angry he was very angry at Bob meller he was very angry at uh being impeach he was very angry about covid that it was overwhelming him he couldn't uh get the better of Co and that's what came across in that first debate was just sheer anger and nothing beyond that he he was also he was trailing at the time too I think he was trying there was maybe a strategy to make up some ground um yeah as far as the the format for the debate goes um it's it's an interesting one I listen I think Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will do a great job but the the the rules are kind of odd and I wonder if you think that's going to decrease the possibility of fireworks when I understand why microphones need to be muted so they're not interrupting each other constantly but then commercial breaks does that make things a little more boring I do not think of all the words that are going to be used about this debate that boring is one of them these two men by the time Atlanta rolls around we have not seen each other for 1,343 days and they really don't like each other the animosity that is going to be palpable from the moment they come on stage together to whether or not they even shake hands is going to permeate every interaction they have whether one is mute or not the muting I actually think is going to redown to everyone's favor except for Donald Trump because the moderators as you just said Jake and Dana who are very um very good and very uh thoughtful journalists will have a longer stretch of time to process what they've just heard when the two candidates talk over each other they can barely absorb what they're hearing let alone put it through any kind of real-time fact check um so this will help I think keep the conversation a little bit straighter a little bit more honest but um look they can't none of us could have another 2020 debate it was pointless it was one step away from a duel yeah um and this hopefully will be better um and look I think usually debates don't determine who wins but they can very much help determine a loser I think the president has a lot more opportunities here than the president the former president does simply because the former president has been out of sight out of mind I know that sounds odd but out of site at least for so long and he's been off social media in the sense of Twitter that it's going to be a very Stark reminder of what he is like and he's going to be in this Jam where the harder he goes after Joe Biden whether it's personally whether it's on policy whether it's on a difference on immigration or inflation of the economy the higher he revs that up the more Anta more he's going to antagonize the people who ended up abandoning him in 2020 and who ultimately decided the race real quickly Philip would you agree there's more pressure on Biden I I would not um I look I think if either the candidate has a bad M which can be defined Any Which Way um then yeah it lingers but the thing that people are looking for with President Biden which they are looking for mostly because president Trump and his campaign and his party and the entire uh media apparatus of the right wing is looking for whether or not Joe Biden can stand up for 90 minutes you know what I don't know when I'm 81 when it is that I'm going to tune out a little bit but I'll tell you when it won't be when Donald Trump is 10t away from me yelling and barking I don't fall asleep at kiss concerts so the idea that there's some going to be some moment in the debate that proves Donald Trump's point I think is kind of silly it's similar to the State of the Union where yeah Joe Biden came out gave a robust vigorous speech and then Donald Trump said he was on drugs and we're going through that we're going through that same cycle uh again I think the president has a bigger opportunity coming off of the trials because the people who seem to have softened in their support they haven't abandoned president Trump and they haven't shifted to President Biden but they are somewhat of a jump ball and that is a huge opportunity for president President Biden all right Philipe thanks for not bringing out your Trump voice um but I do do appreciate the perspective thanks so much thank you Jeff