Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, argued the presidential debate Tuesday between Vice President Kamala Harris and the Republican nominee is more important for Harris than Trump, who has participated in six general election debates across three cycles.
“I think this is actually a much more important night for her because 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,” Sanders told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday.
The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. The prime-time event comes less than two months after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris to replace him as the Democratic Party’s nominee. This will be the first time Harris and Trump debate each other — and the first time they’ve met face-to-face.
Asked about the former president’s debate preparations, Sanders said, “I think 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. … Donald Trump has a good story to tell. He shows up at this debate from a position of strength. She shows up from a position of weakness. The administration that she is totally responsible and accountable for has been an abysmal failure,” Sanders said, also predicting that Harris would perform poorly in the debate.
“I don’t think that she’s up to the challenge in large part, not just because I don’t know that she’s a great debater, but she’s so wrong on the issues that Americans care about, and she has a terrible track record to talk about,” Sanders said.