Dominic Carter: former US debate moderator ahead of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris' Pennsylvania debate

An epic showdown is expected at tomorrow's presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

The VP and former President are facing off in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Millions are expected to tune into the ABC-broadcast clash - which has no live audience, with microphones muted when candidates aren't explicitly in speaking time.

Former US debate moderator Dominic Carter says it's the pair's first face-to-face moment.

"Trump - he's done many presidential debates. It's the first time for Kamala Harris, the Vice-President at the top of the ticket." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So tomorrow at one o'clock our time, as in one
pm our time, Donald Trump and Karmala Harris will square
off for the first time in a presidential debate. A
lot rides on this. These two are neck and neck
in the most recent poll. Dominic Carter is a US
political commentator and a former Senate debate moderator. Dominic Halo, Hi, Heather,
good evening to you. Yeah, Dominic, listen, I'm can get
you take on this. It feels to me like Carmela's

(00:22):
got to win more than Donald Trump has got to
win because we know less, we know her less. Well,
what do you think You hit it.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Right on the head, Heather, and your assessment is one
thousand accurate, believe it or not, Heather. This is the
first time that Trump and Harris will come face to
face in terms of the first time they're going to
meet each other, and she has a lot more at
stake based on recent polling, a couple of polling that

(00:52):
indicates that it's still neck and neck, but Trump is
slightly ahead. And so what I'm expecting to see is Trump.
He's done this many times, Heather, presidential debates. It's the
first time for Kamala Harris, the vice president at the
top of the ticket. And my immediate assessment, Heather is

(01:12):
Trump is going to know when to strike and when
to potentially let his opponent inflict damage on herself. And
so we're going to see it's the ninety minute debate,
a lot at stake, the presidency on the line, and
we're going to see what the candidates have to offer.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
I mean, do you think that he will be that
considered because he sort of strikes me as somebody who
just turns up and licks rip. What do you think, well,
he does.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
He's known as an unconventional American politician, some would say
in some circles, not disciplined. But the same things that
could be perceived Heather is a negative is what makes
it a positive in this case for Trump. And so

(01:58):
he's going to try, obviously not to lose his school.
He cannot lose his school under any circumstance. He can't
be seen that is mister Trump is coming on too
strong against a woman candidate. But he's going to basically
let Kamala Harris state her policies because he believes that

(02:21):
there's not much substance there and that she's flip flopped
on different issues all over the place.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah. I note actually that just recently she's posted what
like almost fifty different policy positions on the website to
kind of get ahead of that.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Ah, yes, exactly, Heather. I see you're paying close attention
to the election, and that's a wonderful thing. So the
big issue, let me just give you one example. So
she will probably try to hit Trump hard on abortion.
She feels that he's vulnerable on the issue of abortion.
But Trump's gonna try and hit her on fracking. So

(02:56):
she was adamantly against fracking as a US Senator, but
then her position changed because she needs Pennsylvania, the state
of Pennsylvania, to win the election, and fracking is hugely
popular in Pennsylvania. So Trump's gonna hit hard. And we're
going to see who's ready for prime time and just

(03:17):
a matter of hours.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
I'm looking forward to Dominica. U.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yes, I am. I think that the presidency is on
the line. I give the strong advantage, Heather to Trump.
And the reason why is can Vice President Kamala Harris
stay the course for ninety minutes? What she's been critified,
criticized for a lot here in America is that she's

(03:42):
been on a teleprompter at all of her events, and
so we're going to see if she can stay on
the stage with Trump and state the policy, and we're
going to see which candidate is going to win. A
lot is on the line.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
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