Former President Donald Trump, while debating Democrat nominee Kamala Harris, will likely present "a lot of thoughtful policy discussions," and that will bring him a win, Sen. Joni Ernst told Newsmax on Tuesday in the hours before the showdown.
"What I expect to see tonight is a lot of thoughtful policy discussions coming from President Donald Trump," the Iowa Republican said about the GOP nominee on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "We have experienced four years of his presidency where our nation was thriving. The middle class was doing well. We saw job creation through the roof. We saw tax cuts for those in the middle class."
Trump's first administration also led to secure borders and a strong national defense, said Ernst.
But from Harris' side, "we'll hear a lot of rehearsed lines, maybe even some word salads," said Ernst.
"But I expect that the president will be very, very strong," she said. "I would encourage the president to stay tight on his policies. Things worked in his administration. And you can see the absolute disaster that we have under Kamala Harris."
Harris has been preparing over the past five days in Pittsburgh for the debate, which is being held in Philadelphia, while Trump has made several appearances in rallies and policy speeches.
Ernst said she spoke with Trump late Monday and he told her he is fully prepared to face Harris.
But the vice president has to prepare because she hasn't been actively engaged with the media, said Ernst.
She added that she expects the ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis will throw softball questions at Harris but push back on Trump with hard questions.
"I think the questions will probably be fair to Donald Trump, but absolutely are going to cut Kamala Harris an absolute break with this," Ernst said.
The senator also discussed a report released by the House Foreign Affairs Committee detailing evidence that suggested President Joe Biden ignored the warnings from NATO allies and senior personnel leading up to the evacuation from Afghanistan.
"There were so many military commanders, and I've had conversations with many of them that had provided different guidance to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris about this withdrawal," she said. "They knew that we were not ready to pull out. They knew it would be dangerous. We left behind a thousand Americans. We left billions of dollars of military equipment for the Taliban to take over."
Harris, who has often said she was the last person in the room when Biden made his decision, needs to "own up to this failure, yet she won't," Ernst said.
The Gold Star families of 13 service members who died during the withdrawal will be presented with the Congressional Gold Medal on Tuesday, but Ernst said that the soldiers would "still be alive today" if not for how the withdrawal was handled.
"If it had been measured, they would have been able to secure the locations necessary for an orderly withdrawal, but that's not what this administration chose to do, again, against the advice of their senior military commanders," she said. "Kamala Harris, this rests on your shoulders."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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