Harris' debate plan: Goad and unnerve Trump, call out his lies

US Vice-President Kamala Harris is preparing for her highly anticipated Sept 10 debate with Donald Trump by focusing on ways to unnerve the Republican candidate and draw attention to his frequent falsehoods on policies and recent history, all with an eye towards social media, aides and advisers say.

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Ms Harris, the Democratic nominee, last appeared on a debate stage in 2020 against then US Vice-President Mike Pence, a night heavy on policy discussions and punctuated by Ms Harris' rebuke of Mr Pence's interruptions, yet probably remembered by most American voters for the fly that photobombed the event.

This time, Ms Harris plans to focus on what her team calls Trump's failures on the US border wall, infrastructure and the Covid-19 pandemic, while hoping to avoid getting pulled into personal attacks, they said.

For their part, Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, have attacked Ms Harris and US President Joe Biden for inflation, the high number of illegal immigrants crossing on the US southern border and economic proposals they say will drive up government spending. More Covid-19 deaths occurred during Mr Biden's term than Trump's, after Mr Biden lost political battles over masking and vaccines.