My 10 best debate questions!

What's yours?

We spend lots and lots of time analyzing what Donald Trump and Kamala Harris should do and say in tonight’s debate.

We spend way less time talking about the questions that the ABC moderators will ask the two candidates.

Which is a mistake. Because the quality of questions has a HUGE impact on the shape of the debate.

To my mind, the goal of a debate question should be to:

a) refuse to allow the candidate to default to some pat, well-rehearsed answer

b) demand specificity from the candidate (“What, in detail, would you change?” etc.)

c) force the candidate to actually think on his or her feet

If I am being honest most debate questions (and most interview questions) fall short of this mark. Nonetheless, I remain optimistic! David Muir and Linsey Davis — the ABC debate moderators — can do this!

But, just in case they are still looking for just the right questions (HA!), I wrote 10 of my own — five for Harris, five for Trump. (Sidebar: I also asked my campaign journalism class at Georgetown to write 10 questions for the debate!)

Before I get to my questions, I wanted to remind you of my plan for the debate tonight.

During the debate, which runs from 9 pm to 10:30 pm eastern, I am going to be hosting a live chat for paid subscribers. It will be like “Mystery Science Theater 3000” — but for politics.

We’ve done this before on big political nights — most recently during the two conventions — and they are super fun. It’s a great way to know people in our community.

I will send out an email with a link to the chat around 8:45 pm tonight. If you want to join us, become a paid subscriber now! It’s $6 a month or $60 a year — and it comes with all sorts of perks including access to all of our live chats during major political events!

But wait! There’s more!

As soon as the debate ends, I am going to do a livestream — via the Substack app — with the one and only Gabe Fleisher of Wake Up To Politics. This will be for ALL subscribers! It will be a sort of instant reaction to what we just watched. I’d love to have you join us.

So, that’s the plan! Now to my questions!

Questions for Harris

1. You have ascribed your shifting policy views since you ran for president in 2019 to your experience as Vice President. But on every issue, you have moved from a more liberal position to a less liberal one. Can you give us an example of where your time in national office has convinced you that a more liberal solution is the right one to an issue?

2. Over the weekend, you posted an “Issues” section on your website. But many of those positions seems to be direct echoes of President Biden’s views. Is there a major issue on which you disagree with the president? What is it — and why?

3. What, specifically, do you consider price gouging? A percentage? A dollar amount? And how do you — and will you — calculate it and enforce it if you are president?

4. Would you support eliminating the legislative filibuster in the Senate — especially as it relates to a measure to restore abortion rights nationally?

5. Will you commit here to conducting a press conference and/or another interview with a mainstream media outlet before the election? If not, why not?

Questions for Trump

1. At 78, you would be the oldest person ever elected to a first term as president. Since leaving the White House in 2021, you have not released any detailed medical records. Will you commit to doing so before the election? And if not, why not?

2. You have said the 2020 election was stolen. But repeated investigations — as well as more than five dozen lawsuits your and your legal team filed — have shown it was not. You also recently acknowledged that you lost in 2020 “by a whisker.” Can you acknowledge tonight that you did, in fact, lose that election? And can you commit to accepting the 2024 results as fair — whether or not you win — assuming that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud?

3. You have called women “fat pigs” and “dogs.” Recently, you said of E. Jean Carroll that “she would not be the chosen one” if you were to have sexually assaulted someone. Given your stated views on women, why should female voters cast a ballot for you this fall?

4. You said repeatedly in 2016 that you would hire only the “best people” to work in your administration. But your vice president, two of your secretaries of defense, your White House chief of staff and your White House counsel have refused to support you in this race. What does that say about your judgment of the “best people”?

5. You have said that “everyone” wanted abortion to be thrown back to the states rather than having a single federal law allowing it. Can you cite a legal scholar who is not currently on the payroll of Fox News who has said that?

So, those are my questions. What are yours?