INSIDE THE HARRIS-TRUMP DEBATE PREP Method acting, insults and tough questions

While preparations differ, both camps see the debate as key to define Harris for millions of swing voters who know what they think about Trump but are still curious about her

US Vice-President Kamala Harris is holed up for five days in a Pittsburgh hotel, doing highly choreographed debate practice sessions before the clash on the night of Sept 10.

There is a stage and replica TV lighting and an adviser in full Lee Strasberg method-acting mode, not just playing Donald Trump but inhabiting him, wearing a boxy suit and a long tie.

The former president's preparations are more improvisation. They are pointedly called not "debate prep" but "policy time", meant to refresh him on his record.

Nobody is playing Ms Harris; sometimes his aides sit at a long table opposite him and bat questions back and forth, or other times, he pulls up a chair closer to them.

Trump has held just a handful of sessions so far, interrupting one at his Las Vegas hotel so he and his advisers could go up to his suite to watch Ms Harris' convention speech.

While the two camps' preparations for the big night in Philadelphia could not be more different, both sides view the debate the same way, according to interviews with nearly two dozen people close to the candidates, many of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss the private preparations.

The Harris and Trump teams see it as a crucial moment to define Ms Harris for millions of swing voters who know what they think about Trump but are still curious about her.

Bringing out Trump's most selfdestructive instincts is a priority for Ms Harris, as is coming across as cool-headed and presidential.