107 Days

by Kamala Harris

I am not a trained seal; I’m not going to memorize lines and spout them. I have to understand the logic and building blocks of every argument so I can present it clearly and defend it persuasively. We also addressed the painful matter of imagining what kinds of personal attacks Trump might mount against me. A man who had no floor, who could go infinitely low, get infinitely cruel. He’d disparaged the war hero Senator John McCain, mocked a reporter’s disability. The gutter was deep for this guy. I’d had quite a big team in the room to get the most diverse range of input I could on how answers would land. But for the part of the prep focusing on personal assaults, I narrowed the group to less than a handful. “He might ask you if you’ve ever had an abortion,” one adviser said. If he did, the response would be: That’s none of your business and that’s not what we’re here for. Someone made a dark joke that if he got that personal, I should ask if he took Viagra. Another: Had he ever paid for an abortion? In the end, he didn’t go down that track. He probably knew a question like that would be exceedingly thin ice for him—and would infuriate just about every woman in America.