Debate advice for Donald Trump

Donald Trump scored a gentleman’s “C” in his first debate with Hillary Clinton. She was programmed, like one of those androids from the film Westworld, spewing out well-rehearsed sound bites, smiling (sometimes condescendingly), and even tossing in a few wiggles. It was all designed to make her look warm and wonderful.

As the saying goes, if you can fake sincerity, you can fake anything.

Trump did best when he didn’t focus on himself and this is the pattern he should follow in the next two debates.

As a seasoned debater, who has taken on professors and liberal thinkers on campuses from Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale in the east, to the University of California, Davis, in the west, I think I can say without too much hubris that I know how to destroy a bad argument.

Let’s start with the race issue. Hillary Clinton slammed Trump for comments she regards as racist. If she tries that again, Trump should extend the road he began to walk down Monday night. He was right to say that his opponent and her party have had decades to repair the racial divide, but that chasm has only widened over the last eight years. Real racism, Trump should say, is refusing to allow minority children in failing public schools to escape them in favor of better ones simply because many teachers’ unions oppose school choice and contribute significantly to the Democratic Party.

Trump should take on the issue of poverty and propose a public-private partnership with churches and religious institutions that would be assigned an individual in need of help.

Trump should take on the issue of poverty and propose a public-private partnership with churches and religious institutions that would be assigned an individual in need of help. This would be an effective alternative to government programs, which have failed to defeat poverty.

Trump should ask Hillary Clinton why she thinks government is the answer to so many of the nation’s problems when in reality it has too often caused or contributed to this country’s ills. She wants to grow government even more, spending additional billions in borrowed money, mortgaging the futures of generations to come.

Again, during Monday’s debate, Trump started to make the case for success in business and in life, but he made it more about himself than others. Americans are inspired by stories of people who have overcome obstacles and Trump should not only tell their stories, he should start featuring them in his political ads and on stage with him—as he has done with veterans. Inspiration has always been the fuel that ignites economic and personal growth.

On nuclear weapons, Trump needs to embrace Ronald Reagan’s view (and that of President Obama) that they need to be reduced, especially in rogue regimes. Talk of using such weapons is irresponsible, though our adversaries must believe we would use them if attacked.

Lastly, how about appealing to personal accountability and responsibility in the second debate? Let’s hear about entitlement reform, entitlements being the main driver of debt. As I have argued, government should be a last resort, not a first resource—a safety net, not a hammock.

More than missing emails and Hillary Clinton’s character (which is already fixed in the minds of most people) voters want to hear about subjects that will affect their lives. It’s about us, more than them. If Trump can close that deal, he is likely to score a “B” in the next debate. If he scores higher, he just might win in November.