--- title: Debate Advice for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton description: Good debate prep helps candidates anticipate the likely questions and form answers that advance their cause. canonical: https://time.com/4471573/debate-advice-for-donald-trump-and-hillary-clinton/ author: Ruth Sherman article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-08T13:45:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:13.258Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Debate Advice for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton og:description: Practice, practice, practice og:url: https://time.com/4471573/debate-advice-for-donald-trump-and-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd084bac7777521fb/6988a42acf40a801fac44a33/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Debate Advice for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton twitter:description: Practice, practice, practice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd084bac7777521fb/6988a42acf40a801fac44a33/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Debate Advice for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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Gerald Herbert—AP;Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Ruth Sherman](https://time.com/author/ruth-sherman/) ## Ruth Sherman Sep 8, 2016 1:45 PM UTC Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face each other in the first presidential debate on Sept. 26\. The event could be a make-or-break moment for each of them. For Trump, it will be the first time he’s faced only one debater, and this is likely to provide some challenges, some obvious and others less so. In the obvious column is the fact that he has little political debate experience. Not only does Clinton have much more debating experience in general, having run for public office before, her recent debates against Senator Bernie Sanders one-on-one will have helped her stay sharp. Less obviously, facing an opponent one-on-one means each debater receives roughly half the focus. This gives Trump more time for talking and, consequently, more risk that he’ll say something that could hurt him. For Clinton, the obvious challenges will center on how she deals with likely questions concerning her use of the private email server while Secretary of State and other controversies. Less obviously, how she manages her responses to any personal invective lobbed at her by Trump will require delicate handling. Here are a few things they should each be paying attention to as the date approaches. **Advice for Donald Trump:** **1\. Stay on-message.** Trump’s lack of message discipline is legendary, so he’ll need to make decisions about how closely to hew to his current style, which tends to be peppered with off-the-cuff remarks. To help himself, he should remember the audience will be taking his measure, particularly those watching him on TV or online, and deciding whether he fits their image of President of the United States. **2\. Study up.** Trump should be undergoing regular tutoring from party experts so that he has at least a surface familiarity with the geopolitical, domestic and social issues of the day. Debates do not go into a lot of detail, but, at this level, with many voters tuning in for the first time, making careless errors will diminish him. **3\. Don’t be sexist.** This is an Achilles heel for Trump. Given the historic nature of Clinton’s candidacy, the debate will be closely watched for any signs of sexist behavior, attitudes or ideas. On the verbal front, he will have to choose his words very carefully to avoid even the appearance of sexism. **Advice for Hillary Clinton:** **1\. Prepare for questions about her email server and speaking fees.** These issues are not going away. There are answers that can mitigate the damage that her weak and inconsistent messaging has helped cause. Figure out what they are, test them, learn them, then rinse and repeat. **2\. Use a moderate vocal volume.** This will be the first time voters will have heard a woman’s voice at this level of a campaign. Unfortunately, the [sexist](http://time.com/4268325/history-calling-women-shrill/) tendency to label women as “shrill” is something Clinton has to keep in mind. Clinton can be firm, direct, and much more expressive without increasing her volume. She must remember that expression and volume are not synonymous. **3\. Make direct eye contact.** As she did with Sanders, when Trump is speaking, Clinton should be looking at him, particularly when he attacks her. Such nonverbal communication conveys confidence and asserts control, which, in turn, will help viewers to envision her facing down international leaders, most of whom are men. Focused practice is the key to a winning performance. Good debate prep helps candidates anticipate the likely questions, form answers that advance their cause and inhabit the right mindset by providing a skilled stand-in for their opponent. It’s also critical to remember rehearsal isn’t a one-time thing. It must be repeated. By Sept. 26, we’ll be only about six weeks from Election Day. Debates are candidates’ final opportunity to speak directly to the largest group of citizens, make their case and, as a result, change perceptions, minds and votes. ## Transcript I beat Hillary Clinton in many polls, the queue poll just came out. America didn't stop being great. We have to make it whole again. I'm the only one that beats Hillary Clinton. I have not started on Hillary yet. Believe me, I will start soon. [ APPLAUSE ] I haven't even started. If you don't get an actual check From the Mexican government for 8 or 10 or $ 12 billion, whatever it will cost. How are you going to make them pay for the wall? I will. He's talking about a very tall wall. And the wall just got ten feet taller. That would run the entire border. Paid for by Mexico. That he would somehow get the Mexican government to pay for. We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. You know it's just Fantasy. [ NOISE ] I would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for raising the minimum wage. Taxes too high, wages too high. Well, you know both Bill and I have been very blessed, neither of us came from wealthy families, and we've worked really hard our entire lives. I took one million dollars and I turned it into Okay, one million ten billion dollars. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like Now- Very. [ NOISE ] They may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their family's lives. [ APPLAUSE ] A diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution- We need tough people, we need toughness. It's about how you balance the risk. I would bring back water boarding. And I'd bring back a helluva lot worse, than what we're boarding. We will not send American combats groups back to Syria or Iraq, that is off the table. We talk about Iran and that's one of the worst deals ever made I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, most experienced and ready person to be the President. If I'm elected to be President We will win and we will win and we will win. Thank you. 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