Donald Trump must stop obsessing over pet peeves to win undecided voters after missing chance in debate, expert says

IF Donald Trump wants to win over undecided voters, he has to focus on the American people and not personal attacks, an ex-White House adviser has said.

Brett Bruen, who served as the Global Engagement Director at the White House under Barack Obama spoke exclusively to The U.S. Sun after the debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.

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The two presidential nominees met for their first debate at The National Constitution Center where Harris came out on top after Trump got caught up with grievances rather than policies, Bruen said.

During the fiery debate on ABC, the two rivals clashed over several topics including immigration, the economy, and abortion.

The former president ripped into Harris for flip-flopping on key policies like fracking and for putting the country into “serious decline” with President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, the vice-president claimed Trump has a poor reputation with world leaders and that leaders of hostile countries are “itching” for him to win “because they know [he] can be manipulated.”

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Debate night highlights…

• Donald Trump and Kamala Harris engaged in a fiery debate where, at times, the former president seemed enraged and frustrated.
• Vice President Harris tried to get under Trump’s skin by bringing up his ties to Project 2025, his criminal conviction in New York, his rally crowd sizes, and the various indictments he’s facing.
• Trump went off script when he repeated wild conspiracies about immigrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio.
• “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said as Harris laughed and shook her head.
• In one instance, Trump seemingly threw his running mate, JD Vance, under the bus and blamed him for miscommunication about his stance on a national abortion ban.
• Despite his subpar moments, Trump dubbed his performance “his best debate ever.”
• A Harris spokesperson called for a second debate in October.

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While each nominee poked holes in each other’s policies and made sly jibes, Harris was the one who “walked away with [a win] by a mile,” the ex-White House adviser said.

This is largely because Trump allowed himself to get caught up in his “pet peeves” and in making personal digs rather than showing himself off as the rightful candidate, the expert revealed.

UNDECIDED

“He has got to focus on the issues and not on the personal attacks,” Breuen said.

“He has got to make it about the American people, and not about his own personal grievances.”

In a now-viral moment from the section on immigration, the 45th President got so riled up he doubled down on debunked claims that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s pets.

He also made a point of stealing a phrase from Harris’ 2020 playbook in which she told Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence “I’m speaking” in what became a viral moment that she has since repeated at rallies.

“I had a little fun with that,” he later bragged in a phone interview on Fox’s Fox and Friends on Wednesday morning, but it is this focus that will see him lose the undecided voters, the adviser claimed.

Despite repeated attempts from the Republican to “try to come back again and again to issues like illegal immigration to the economy, [he] did so with little effect,” Bruen said.

This was because “he quickly pivoted back to his personal pet peeves, and that quite frankly isn’t going to win over a lot of voters.”

“I think that Trump is struggling to find the folks outside of his base.”

“And throwing a bunch of red meat or conspiracy theories about pets being consumed by Haitian immigrants is not going to win over the suburban soccer mom,” he added.

ROUND TWO?

Unfortunately for Trump, Obama’s former adviser said that Tuesday’s showdown which was “the decisive moment for many undecided voters” was a “major missed opportunity” for him.

“There aren’t going to be many more of those,” he added.

This point was further compounded by Trump’s apparent reluctance to take on a rematch against Harris.

When speaking on Fox and Friends the morning after the debate, the 45th president claimed he has no reason for a second round.

Fox has extended an invitation to both nominees with three potential dates next month for a follow-up debate.

When Trump was asked about it live on air, he said, “I’d be less inclined to because we had a great night.”

“They lost very badly and the first thing they do is ask for another debate,” he said.

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“The losing person, fighter, debater, they always ask for a rematch…I think we let it settle and see what happens,” he concluded.

FORWARD-THINKING

If Harris and Trump agree to go a second round, both camps will have to make some changes, Bruen warned, and it is not just over making personal attacks.

The expert explained that after preparing to debate and win an election against Biden, Trump has to re-strategize to “appeal to different generations” as he faces a “much younger candidate” in Harris.

Meanwhile, he recommended that Harris “rolls out more concrete proposals that people feel they can hold on to.”

The Democratic nominee needs to put some “substance behind some of the splash and sizzle that she has offered,” particularly a the Democratic National Convention last month.

Like her rival, the 59-year-old also needs to focus on the future, he added, rather than allowing herself to be dragged into old issues and topics.

However, she “managed to stick the landing” on Tuesday, he added, saying that she successfully took control and “did enough to show that she could be the Alpha personality on the debate stage.”

Despite this perceived success for the Harris camp, another expert said that her onstage antics damaged her overall message.

Political presentation coach Graham Davies warned that while Harris “baited Trump and got under his skin,” her “annoying trait” of giggling, pulling faces, and eye-rolling will put off voters.

“Facial expressions like that would have been things that her advisers would have advised against,” he said, adding it was “deeply inappropriate” during the debate.

“Her facial expressions will have taken the shine of her verbal impact,” he added.

Ahead of any future debates, the public speaking expert advised Harris to “look into a mirror when she speaks, just to make sure she realizes how off-putting” her expressions are.