What the Trump-Clinton debate might tell us about Tuesday's match with Harris

NEW YORK (AP) — He claimed she would raise taxes and accused her of supporting open border policies that allowed an influx of migrants into the country. He blamed her for a litany of the current administration’s failures and cast her potential presidency as four more years of the same.

Donald Trump wasn’t facing Vice President Kamala Harris. It was Hillary Clinton on the debate stage.

As Trump and Harris prepare to debate for the first — and potentially only — time Tuesday, his three meetings with Clinton in 2016 illustrate the challenges facing both candidates in what is again shaping up to be an extremely close election.

Harris will face a skilled and experienced debater who excels at rattling his rivals with a barrage of insults and interruptions, while projecting unflappable confidence and conviction. And Trump will be up against a longtime prosecutor known for landing pointed punches. He again faces a woman who would become the country’s first female president, and must contend with the underlying gender dynamics at play.

During their first 2016 debate in late September, moderated by NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump began on his best behavior. He and Clinton warmly shook hands after taking the stage and Trump, in his first answer, said he agreed with his rival when it came to the importance of affordable childcare.

After referring to the former first lady, senator, and secretary of state as “Secretary Clinton,” he checked to make sure she approved.

“Yes? Is that ok? Good. I want you to be very happy. It’s very important to me,” he said, drawing laughs from the audience and Clinton herself. (In later debates, he called her “Hillary,” while she consistently used “Donald.”)

It was Clinton who took the first digs of the night when she criticized the then-reality TV star and real estate developer for supporting “Trumped-up trickle-down” economics and said their different perspectives were borne from the fact that Trump had received millions of dollars from his wealthy father, while hers had worked hard printing draperies.

In the audience, she said, was a worker who accused Trump of stiffing him on bills.

But as the debate wore on, Trump became more combative as he pressed Clinton on why she hadn’t done the things she was proposing as a candidate for president during her decades of public life.

“Typical politician: All talk, no action. Sounds good, doesn’t work. Never gonna happen,” he said.

Clinton’s strategy in responding to Trump’s attacks was clear from the beginning: Don’t get rattled. Laugh it off.

She never appeared flustered and instead smiled widely as she dismissively brushed off what she at one point cast as Trump “saying more crazy things.”

“Well here we go again,” she said in response to more insults in the second debate.

“No wonder you’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life,” Trump quipped at one point as he tried to cast Clinton as an “all talk, no action” politician, of the group that formed in 2013.

“I have a feeling that by the end of this evening, I’m going to be blamed for everything that’s ever happened,” Clinton responded with a smile.

“Why not?” Trump answered.

Trump, meanwhile, sought to turn the arguments she made against him back onto her.

“I have much better judgment than she has…. I also have a much better temperament than she has,” he declared. “I think my strongest asset — maybe by far — is my temperament. I have a winning temperament.”

The second debate between Trump and Clinton was far more combative. The town hall came just two days after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women.

With his campaign in freefall and top Republicans urging him to leave the race, Trump invited women who had accused former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s husband, of sexual misconduct, creating a spectacle as the women sat in the audience in the debate hall and spoke at a press conference beforehand.

There was no handshake this time, and the debate quickly devolved into accusations as Trump insisted what former president Clinton had done was “far worse” than his self-described “locker room talk.”

“Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously,” he said. “I think it's disgraceful, and I think she should be ashamed of herself.”

Later, Trump zeroed in on the thousands of hacked emails that Wikileaks had begun to publish the day of the tape’s release, as well as Clinton’s use of a personal email server during her time as secretary of state.

As Clinton sat on her stool, Trump approached her, and said that, if he won, he would instruct his attorney general to hire a special prosecutor to investigate her conduct.

“There has never been so many lies, so much deception,” he said. “There has never been anything like this. ... Lives have been destroyed for doing 1/5th of what you’ve done, and it’s a disgrace.”

Clinton, again refusing to be flustered, directed viewers to her website where she said her campaign had fact-checked his false allegations.

“It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country,” she said.

“Because you’d be in jail,” Trump responded to cheers from the audience.

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listens to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the third presidential debate, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listens as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump answers a question during the presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Sept. 26, 2016. (Joe Raedle/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton shake hands after the presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Sept. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump debate during the third presidential debate, Oct. 19, 2016. (Mark Ralston/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, right, speaks as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens during the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Oct. 9, 2016. (Rick T. Wilking/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton smiles as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y., Sept. 26, 2016. (Rick T. Wilking/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speak during the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Oct. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Colt Keith hit a two-run homer, Matt Vierling had three hits while driving in the go-ahead run, and the Detroit Tigers rallied from an early four-run deficit to beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6 on Monday night in a crucial game for their playoff hopes.

Pinch-hitter Wenceel Pérez had the tying two-run double for Detroit, which began its final trip of the regular season by moving within 1 1/2 games of Minnesota for the final AL wild-card spot. The Twins lost to Cleveland earlier in the night.

“It was an incredible win because of how we were able to do it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We didn't do much early, although our at-bats were pretty good. Started to chip away a little bit, a couple of really big swings, and then we held on."

Brenan Hanifee (1-1) earned the win in relief for Detroit, allowing one run and three hits over 2 1/3 innings. Jason Foley finished off a solid bullpen performance, working a perfect ninth to earn his 24th save and second in two days.

“The bullpen has been doing it all year for us,” Keith said, “and they did it again tonight.”

Bobby Witt Jr. hit a grand slam to stake Kansas City to a 4-0 lead, and he added a bunt single for a five-RBI game. But the Royals otherwise kept squandering chances to score, just as they did in their loss to the Pirates on Sunday.

Sam Long (3-2) took the loss for Kansas City, allowing three runs while retiring just two batters in relief of Seth Lugo.

“A lot of stuff happened in that game, clearly. It was an intense back-and-forth, both teams putting everything on the line,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “You get out to a lead, you feel pretty good. You know they're not going to go away.”

Indeed, the Royals started their final homestand by taking advantage of what Detroit could not: the bases loaded.

The Tigers packed them in the third before Keith grounded out to second to end the threat. But when Kansas City loaded the bases in the bottom half — a leadoff walk from Adam Frazier, a single by Yuli Gurriel and a bunt single from Kyle Isbel — Witt hit a 1-1 pitch what seemed like a mile high and over the left-field wall for his second grand slam of the season.

Reese Olson, making his first start since straining his right shoulder July 20 in Toronto, was lifted one batter later, after Salvador Perez blooped a single to right. He allowed four runs, four hits and a walk while throwing 50 pitches.

The Tigers still trailed 5-1 in the fifth when they began their comeback, scoring once on Witt's throwing error and twice more when Keith homered to right. And after Witt delivered an RBI single in the bottom half for his 200th hit of the season, Detroit pushed across three more runs in the sixth off Long and John Schreiber to take a 7-6 lead.

“We had trouble putting them away from the very beginning. There weren’t a lot of easy outs,” Quatraro said. "You have got to give them credit the way they battled their at-bats and drove (Seth) Lugo’s pitch count up. Then they continued to put good at-bats up. I thought ours were pretty good, too. We just didn’t get the big hits like they did.”

The Royals had two aboard with one out in the seventh, and the first two on base in the eighth, but failed to score both times.

“That was one of the best games we've played as a team,” Keith said. “I don't think anybody thought that we were out of it."

Tigers: RHP Ricky Vanasco was optioned to Triple-A Toledo to make space for Olson on the roster. Vanasco pitched two scoreless innings in two appearances with the club, earning his first big league win on Sept. 5 in Oakland.

Royals: RHP Chris Stratton, who went on the injured list Saturday, was diagnosed with a Grade-1 flexor strain and will be shut down for at least a week. ... RHP James McArthur left Monday's game after retiring two batters with right elbow tightness.

Detroit: RHP Casey Mize (2-6, 4.47) is on the mound against Kansas City for the second game of the series Tuesday night.

Kansas City: LHP Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.32) faces the Tigers after striking out 12 against them in an 8-3 win on May 22.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch talks to his players on the mound as he makes a pitching change during the third inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Reese Olson throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. hits a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. runs the bases after hitting a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)