AUSTIN, Texas – MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki feels Vice President Kamala Harris should shake former President Trump’s hand when they take the debate stage on Tuesday.
Psaki was asked during a Q&A at the Texas Tribune Festival on Friday if there will be a handshake ahead of Tuesday’s ABC Presidential Debate, which will mark the first time Harris and Trump have ever met in person.
“I think, yes,” Psaki said.
“Or, if you’re her, you make an effort,” Psaki continued. “Here’s the thing that’s very difficult… it feels much better to scream at someone and be like, ‘What the F are you talking about?’”
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Psaki said viewers don’t want to see hostility and suggested Harris take the high road and focus on winning the debate.
“The balance for her, is how do you push back when he is spewing lie-filled rants, which will happen. If he attacks you in a racist or sexist or creepy way? Which certainly can happen,” Psaki said, noting that the Harris-Walz campaign has pushed back on Trump “effectively” from a distance.
“But it’s different than doing them in person,” Psaki said.
“This is probably one of the biggest audiences you’re going to have before the November election. Everybody out there is not a progressive Democrat watching this debate,” she continued. “And you need to appeal to a broad audience of people who may be on the fence, who may have never voted for a Democrat before, who maybe have never voted before.”
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In June, Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said he would not shake Trump’s hand ahead of the CNN debate that put Biden’s fitness to serve another term in the national spotlight. Richmond then suggested Biden “consistently rises above pettiness” and might not take his advice, but a handshake didn’t happen.
The pre-debate handshake was a longstanding tradition that has fizzled out in recent years, with Trump and Hillary Clinton declining to shake hands in 2016 at the start of their second and third presidential debates. In 2020, Biden and Trump didn’t shake hands amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris and Trump will have a chance to restore the tradition on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
