The moderator doesn’t matter; the candidate must be ready.
Trump, prepare. Strategize. Go all-in against this tidal wave of lies and bias.
“The moderator doesn’t matter; the candidate must be ready.”
You’ve hit the crux of the matter. The candidate should know the moderator will hit at whatever “weak” point or flaw the candidate has - and needs to be prepared to succinctly respond and then wisely use the time allotted to make whatever point he/she really needs to make or can leverage from the moderator raising the issue.
In the Donald’s case, his simple rejoinder about Rosie and on further pressing his “Don’t have time for political correctness” was enough, with a little redirection to Clinton and her failure to protect women from her husband and actually attack them could have then been refocused to what he has done for women (hiring and promoting) and intends to do in his administration with / for them.
His biggest flaw which others will exploit is his apparent thin skin - time to show he can stand the heat and stay focused on the prize - get whatever his message is out. Limited time will be available in the debates (though he got plenty in the first one) - he and others have to show some political skills in controlling the conversation. Some will always complain that whatever question was asked was not answered - why should we really care - the public ultimately needs to hear what educates us on their thought process and where they really intend to lead the nation. Who gives a cr*p whether some moderator’s ego gets stroked by asking some “tough” question that was only intended to provoke a soundbite response detrimental to the candidate.