Jesse: the stage is set and we're less than an hour away from trump and harris taking the stage for their first, and probably only presidential debate. And you can watch it here on fox. The two candidates will duke it out for 90 minutes, no opening statements, no cheat sheets, no audience, two commercial breaks, and the mics will be muted when the other one is talking. The podiums will be different sizes. Kamala will be standing behind a shorter podium. A trump official says if looks like the kid's table at thanksgiving. This is the president's 47th debate, and for harris, her first. Under tremendous pressure, for the first time since biden dropped out, kamala will be all alone, no runningmate, no teleprompters, against an unpredictable former president and veteran tv star who she's never been in the same room with, with two months before the election, this is kamala's one shot to make it happen and we're hearing she's nervous. She spent the last week cramming at debate camp, counsellors feeding her dnaers zingers, but trump isn't underestimate her. The former president is training like rocky, totally dialed in, and is walking in calm, cool and collected. The goal for trump is to make harris defend her record, tired of biden tie her to biden and tag her as a status quo, more of the same, the same people who ran biden, they'll be running her, but she will be more radical. Trump will be showcasing kamala's record to the nation tonight, a senior advisor to the campaign, says she will not be able to escape from it. By the end of it debate, everybody will know her record. Trump is going to treat kamala like an equal and not treat her differently because she's a woman. Her aim isn't to attack her but her policies, which are dangerously liberal, weak, failed and extreme. A source tells prime time that kamala's support for taxpayer funded sex changes for illegals, may very well come up tonight. And don't expect harris to play nice. She's got nothing to lose. The strategy of both candidates is to keep the other candidate on defence. Kamala will largely avoid policy and provoke trump with carefully crafted sucker punches. When she's on offence, she's winning, if she's on defence the whole night, she's toast. Since there won't be anymore debates, she will be vicious. Don't expect her to take any responsibility. Harris will say all of biden administration's failures are trump's fault, afghanistan his fault, border his fault, inflation, his fault. Bidenharris had nothing to do with it, and everything good that biden did, she will say, yeah, that was on me. As trump continues to hammer her over the last four years, look for kamala to turn to the camera and say, you may be think you're debating joe biden, but i'm not joe biden, and create distance from her boss and their record. If kamala is defined as a joe biden democrat she loses. Kamala's goal tonight is to persuade the american people that she represents change, and that trump represents the past. Trump has the same strategy. Trump needs to convince the american people to go back to the future, meaning, hire me back, and i'll guarantee you a better future. It will be difficult for kamala harris to claim she represents change, though, when on the eve of this debate, she was just caught copying and pasting biden's policies on to her website. She finally put policies on her website and she plagiarized them from biden. That's not change. This is a lady who lied about her past, is secretive, dependent on the machine and has gone into hiding because she's too insecure to face scrutiny, and her policies are so progressive, she's unelectable. Not everybody knows who kamala is. So she will chew talk time this evening, presenting her biography, and avoiding accountability. This debate is completely unpredictable. We know kamala is looking to throw a punch, but can she take one, can she speak without a script. Trump can be presidential, but also self destructive. The country knows trump, but it doesn't know kamala yet and how will abc moderators be. This is a news broadcast that doesn't give 45 a fair shot. It's promoted harris with completely positive coverage. Will moderators be fact checking trump? we'll see. Tangling with the moderators could help the former president, because no one really likes the media, except me. We like to see them counter punched, and will prove the game is rigged which trump can exploit. Because he's not just running against kamala, he's running against the machine behind her. Donald trump doesn't have to be her valentine. No one is asking you to fall in love. He's asking for another four year, his last four years, he's termed out, his mission is to restore the american dream. Which over the last four years is pushed out of reach for the country. Kamala has to show the country she can play in the same league as trump, give it as good as she gets it, embrace biden, while distancing herself from them, and pivot away from her record to what a future would look like under her. She has the bigger challenge this evening, and going in cold with one interview in over 50 days, if she doesn't deliver, the democrats are stuck with her. It's too late for another coup. Arkansas governor sarah huckabee sanders joins me now. It's different, because she's a woman, not joe biden, she's a vicepresident, doesn't have full control over the administration. How will trump face off against kamala harris, that became this new fresh candidate, just in like the last month and a half. You know, jesse, you made a great point earlier, she's not joe biden, but she has to be responsible for all of the failures of this administration. Not only that, she is literally taking this same page out of his play book, and trying to use it and fool the american people, but they're tool smart to fall for the ridiculousness, and think she's anything other than a far left radical. Ill go as far as to say she's infinitely worse than joe biden, she's the most radical nominee the democrat party has ever put up, and the people are way too smart to buy into anything she's going to try to sell tonight after today, two interview, which is twice and many as she has done as the democrat nominee for resume. She cannot, i think, show anything other than failure, that they have been responsible for over the last several years, and donald trump is no rookie, somebody who is seasoned. This is his super bowl. This is something he's very comfortable setting, that he undoubtedly will step in to prepare, because he does interviews all day, every day, not afraid to take tough questions, and he knows he has a of better story and right on the policy. She doesn't have any of those things, that's why she's been hunkered down, studying for the last week, trying to prepare for it. When you were white house press secretary,very good at your job. You never got frazzled, kept your composure and really engaged, pretty sometimes aggressively with these reporters who were very hostile. What does it take to be able to do that. The press briefing room is not the same as a presidential debate, but what does it take? one of the most important things, is people would ask how do you prepare for a briefing. I'd say every day is part of preparation, because you're always learning, you're always taking questions, you're always engaging. She hasn't been doing that, the same way that donald trump has. That's why he's going to come in game time ready and why she's had to do this crash course, because she's not used to taking hard questions, and being held accountable for anything. I think tonight is the biggest challenge for her, is answering hard questions, something she doesn't have experience with, and on a stage, with there's probably no person on the face of the planet that has more experience taking hard questions, but also, you have two people with incredibly different records. You have one that has four years of success, four years of strength to come to the table and another purple who comes from a total position of weakness, and a complete and abysmal failure over the last four years, so it will be a big night for donald trump. Jesse: we'll see what happens? how much time left? 50 minutes? it's getting close, governor sanders, thank you so much [ ♪♪ ] jesse: let's bring in dana lash, and john roberts, coanchor of america reports. Dana, we're setting the barlow. I think realistically, just because kamala harris has never done a presidential debate, cramming, memorizing a lot of the policies, training her on what to say, what if she comes out fresh? what if she comes out and uncorks a few hay makers, and performs better than anybody expects. What is next? i don't believe that's going to happen,. Jesse:cy. I really do jesse, i don't, because it's kamala harris, that's kind of her record. I think the governor made a good point on one of them, that kamala harris hasn't done a lot of press interviews. That's where you kind of hone your skills, if you're a politician. You don't walk in cold on a debate stage, having never been in front of anybody hostile or anyone that is opposing you ideologically and have to think on your feet quickly and have to come up with very concise answers, and speak briefly, in a setting like that. She's not used to that, because she's never put herself through the grinder of doing press scrums, or press conferences. Trump has, and i also think that trump does better when he's in a hostile environment. Mmhmm. When he's in a press environment when he's speaking with people he knows agree with him, he relaxes and goes off message, but when he's speaking to hostiles, he's very disciplined and concise and it's a different trump. And i think that's what we're going to see tonight. I think that as long as he doesn't take any bait, and brings everything back to the economy and the border, she has nowhere to go and one last quick point, he needs to make this about kamala versus kamala, not kamala versus trump, she's running against herself, and that's the real battle on the left. Jesse: john, dana makes a good point that this format demands she be concise with her answers. You have two minutes, sometimes the retort is just a minute. She's not used to that environment. She's used to kind of friendly things, where there's no time limit, wander around and land somewhere. This is going to demand incredible discipline, and for her to pick up the speed with which she delivers her message. Have you ever seen her covering her, capable of doing that? i have not, not in a big debate format, remember back in 2020, october 6 when she debated mike pence, the big moments from that debate where she stopped him after he interrupted and said excuse me, mr. Vicepresident, i'm speaking. She's likely not going to have a chance to do that because of the closed microphones much the closed microphones may be impulse control for donald trump. Where does he get in trouble in debates, with a hot mic where he blurts out something in response to a punch he's taken, but if the microphones are closed, he has a beat for two to think about it, before he responds. What will be interesting to see, and i agree with dana and the governor, every day you're out there honing your skills, we do it on a daytoday basis, you take a long weekend, you have to retrain us, and for her, it's like being a piano player, or a golfer, or a basketball player. If you haven't played piano or golf or basketball in four years, you still know how to play the game, but not going to hit birdies or threes, and you'll probably miss a few notes. Donald trump on the other hand has been out there playing every day, and getting that real back and forth, and taking those questions from the press as well. It's that thrust and perry he's used to, she hasn't had to face that, so i think she will be rusty tonight. Jesse: have you ever seen the five aftersa long weekend. I think everybody know what russ looks like. John, dana, thank you. If you've ever seen my show after a long weekend, same thing. Jesse: fox news contributor and chairman of the harris poll, mark penn join us now. Mark, these numbers have tightened, harris had a nice bounce after she came in, and now this thing is like this, the battle grounds look favourable to donald trump. What has changed and why have things changed op the eave of this eve of this probably only debate? well, i think boat bases of both parties, have galvanized around their clients, our poll, where the harris poll, but not harris' poll, is 5050. If you look at it, the atmospherics underneath the poll are good for trump. Almost twothirds are unhappy with the economy and the direction of the company, only 42% think joe biden has done a good job, trump leads on major issues of economy, inflation, crime, but he's not been able to deliver a knock out punch here, against somebody who has risen to really regalvannize particularly black voters, trump is doing very well with latino voters, and this debate, it's going to be very interesting, to see does harris go out there and say i want to get the swing voters and i'll seem statesman like and moderate, or do i want to rev up my base, and then i'm going to swing at donald trump. Jesse: we have no idea what's going to happen. When you debate someone that is fresh, that's new, that's a female, if you're donald trump, do you do anything differently in terms of maybe helping yourself with women, or maybe just driving up the male vote? how is that working out? i do think you never want to come off as the overbearing personality, when there's already a pretty strong gender gap. You want to seem strong, stable, statesman like, able to handle the conflicts against russia, and the mideast, but not lose your cool in a way that turns off women. And i think obviously that's what the harris campaign wants to see out of trump. Trump already knows that everybody has told him not to do that, but he has a habit of doing it anyway. We will see. Jesse: what are the risks for kamala harris, who could she turn off if she gets either two aggressive, or sits there and acts presidential? she has two ways to win, i think, being able to explain a set of coherent policies on inflation, on the border, and just go out there swinging, the democratic base will love her just drawing blood on threats to democracy, and all of that stuff and 50, 50, that's the choice, the real threat i think to harris is in that amount clu questionnaire. She's in writing and on tape with some incredible policy proposals that are completely rejected by the american public, and if trump can trap her in those, he could win the debate. He always everybody in the audience thinks he's lying, but he's really telling the truth. We'll see, we have about 40 minutes to go, mark penn, thank you for coming on jesse watters prime time. Trump senior advisor, alina, you spent some time with the former president today. How is the mood. He's great. He's great, ready to roll. He's like rocky. He just gets focused, he knows his policies are going to win, not getting taxpayer dollars to pay for transgender illegal immigrants to get transitioned in cells, so when you have issues like that fentanyl crisis, and her saying she wants to make it legal, pretty easy to debate somebody like kamala. Jesse: he's going to say you want breast implants for illegal alien, legalize fentanyl, get rid of the internal combustion engine, abolish ice, it's a long laundry list of stuff she's said. Can you see her wiggling out of that? no, not with president trump, the reality is the border crisis has created 60% more rapes of women, 325,000 children lost from their families as a result of her actions. She's going to act as a lawyer, but as a lawyer i can say what she's done to the city is an absolute disgrace. She can't get away from the last 3 and a half years, jesse, that's the truth and we have the privilege of knowing what she is and can do, because she's still there, and what president trump did, because it's completely different. What do you want america the last 3 and a half years or the prior 4. All he's got to do is let her speak. Jesse: if he makes this about change, i'm the guy who will bring change, you saw how i brought change last time, lived the good life, you had more money, safety, order to buy a house, this woman represents the status quo, the last four years, don't try to let her sell you a bill of goods, she will promise this and not deliver, if she could have delivered she would have done it, that's all it takes. Is that the theme going in. It's not just that, jesse, she wants some changes, but the changes she wants are far more radical left than anybody in this country has ever seen before. To tell people you can't have guns, to tell people your taxpayer dollars are going to pay for things, and allow children do get she's got 65 people sitting with her that believe children's parents don't have to know whether their children want to transition. Those are changes, that's not status quo, and those are radical left changes. Yeah. Jesse: i think at the end of the night, everybody will know what kamala stands for. Alina, thank you so much. See you soon. Stay tuned for fox's special coverage, of the abc presidential debate, which can be seen on fox news. Mostly frost news, you can see that. And i'm going to run over to the other table, and you can see more of me, now and then after the debate. Have a great night, everybody. It's going to be a big one [ ♪♪ ] we are awaiting history, with just 8 weeks until americans cast their