On August 6, the first Republican presidential debate will feature nine candidates who have spent weeks or months prepping intensively for the debate after years of planning and strategizing for this campaign ... and the tenth man they'll likely be sharing the stage with is Donald Trump. Candidates like Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and Marco Rubio can't even really prep for the specific nutjar proposals Trump is expected to offer, because Trump himself probably won't know ahead of time what he's going to say. All they can hope to do is
minimize the damage:
"Do not try to match him in anger and in aggressiveness. It's not possible," [Newt] Gingrich warned Trump's rivals. "He's a very instinctively aggressive guy and if you try to dance with him on his strengths he'll run over you."
But if you let Trump's anger and aggressiveness dominate the debate, you run the risk of looking weak, and Republican primary voters don't typically like weak-looking candidates. So have fun with that! There's all kinds of unhelpful advice out there:
His supporters love him because he's willing to say what others only think. But that makes him dangerous in a debate setting, says Charlie Black, a leading GOP strategist who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns.
"Just try to ignore him," Black said. "The less attention you give him the better. I wouldn't even look at him."
I would donate an entire U.S. dollar to the candidate who spent an entire debate conspicuously pretending Donald Trump was not on the stage, but I think my checkbook and clean record of not giving money to Republicans are safe. That's not to say the evening will be devoid of entertainment, though. Which candidate will reject Gingrich's advice and try to out-bluster Trump? Who will swath himself in pious self-righteousness as he tries to take the high road without alienating the Republican base? (Jeb!, most likely.) Will anyone other than Ted Cruz pander and try to ally himself with Trump?