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Trump’s debate prep is top secret

Complied By Alex Daugherty and Eric Wuestewald

adaugherty@mcclatchydc.com, ewuestewald@mcclatchy.com

September 26, 2016 07:30 AM

Donald Trump spoke to a crowd in Roanoke, Va. about what he called the "new civil rights issue" for African-Americans. Meanwhile, actors from the popular TV show The West Wing hit the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton, including one stop in Toled

Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.

The stage is set for the first debate between Clinton and Trump tonight at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York.

Both candidates have different ways they can win or lose tonight and viewership could approach 100 million.

The polls open nationally in 42 days. Let’s get started.

Where to watch the debate

Every major broadcast outlet will be showing tonight’s debate, which starts at 9pm ET. ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Telemundo, Univision and C-SPAN will all show it and NBC’s Lester Holt will moderate.

Don’t have cable? No problem. Digital outlets like Buzzfeed, The Daily Caller, Huffington Post, Politico, Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal and Hulu will stream the debate.

Twitter will also stream the debate using the same system it uses for football games and Snapchat will be offering short snippets of behind-the-scenes action. YouTube will feature debate coverage from multiple media outlets.

You can also watch the debate via virtual reality, but you’ll need specific equipment and the technology still needs some work.

The good news about tonight’s debate regardless of your political views? There won’t be commercials.

How Clinton can win the debate

First, Clinton needs to show that she is healthy by standing on stage without incident for 90 minutes amid concerns about her health.

The Democratic nominee has spent the past few weeks undergoing mock debates and anticipating two Trumps, one unpredictable and the other more conventional. But she can’t sound like she’s been practicing for weeks. Her tone and delivery need to feel natural and unrehearsed for undecided voters to change their tune and cast a ballot for her.

September 26, 2016
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How Trump can win the debate

If Trump detects an inauthentic or canned response from Clinton, he’s shown an ability to strike back with rhetorical force. Just ask “Little Marco Rubio,” “Low-energy Jeb Bush” or “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” (although Cruz is now backing Trump).

Trump needs to show voters that he has a firm grasp on the issues while maintaining the charisma which propelled him to the GOP nomination.

He’s already been working the refs, in this case NBC anchor Lester Holt, and could use widespread dissatisfaction with the media to his advantage on Monday.

Trump continues to keep his debate prep secret

Trump has given little information about how he’s preparing for tonight’s prime-time debate against Hillary Clinton. Supporters say he must present a balancing act between being briefing-book smart and being the unpredictable candidate that his voters adore.

Earlier this week, he sent an email to supporters that read, “The media keeps asking what I’m doing to prepare for my debate.”

“While Hillary is listening to a team of psychologists and advisers to teach her what to say, I’m turning to the very people who got me where I am today . . . YOU.”

Trump lies—a lot

Four major news outlets each fact-checked Donald Trump’s public statements, speeches and Tweets over the last week and they all declared that the Republican nominee freely bends the truth to suit his needs.

The New York Times published an article on Saturday that counted 31 different lies from Trump in just over a week. Politico, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post all published similar pieces within a few hours of each other.

Politico found that Trump said 87 erroneous statements over the course of five days.

“We subjected every statement made by both the Republican and Democratic candidates — in speeches, in interviews and on Twitter — to our magazine’s rigorous fact-checking process. The conclusion is inescapable: Trump’s mishandling of facts and propensity for exaggeration so greatly exceed Clinton’s as to make the comparison almost ludicrous,” Politico said.

Trump’s mishandling of facts and propensity for exaggeration so greatly exceed Clinton’s as to make the comparison almost ludicrous.

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The Washington Post used a day-by-day approach with Trump’s public appearances last week, quoting falsehoods from TV interviews.

“Trump’s campaign is hardly the first to spin things its way, and Clinton has made her share of questionable claims, but Trump has nevertheless revealed himself to be a candidate who at times seems uniquely undeterred by facts,” The Post said.

Reporters in recent weeks have noted whenever the Trump campaign says something that is blatantly false, and he appears to be doing it at a rate that far surpasses Clinton.

September 20, 2016
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Editors insist the timing of the articles was a coincidence and that Hillary Clinton’s campaign had nothing to do with their publication.

Ted Cruz endorses Donald Trump

On Friday, former Trump foe Ted Cruz provided his endorsement for the Republican nominee.

“After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump,” Cruz wrote.

In July, Cruz snubbed Trump during the Republican National Convention by urging people to “vote your conscience.” This followed attempts by Trump to link Cruz’s father to the John F. Kennedy assassination and attacks from the Republican nominee on Cruz’s wife.

Some of Cruz’s backers supported his previous decision not to endorse Trump. Cruz’s decision to back Trump may now compromise the principled position that conservatives who reject Trump praised Cruz for.

Links of note

Have a question about the candidates, the campaign, the process, the election itself? Ask us here.

Alex Daugherty: 202-383-6049, @alextdaugherty

Eric Wuestewald, @eric_wuest