LAS VEGAS — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been in more than a few debates during his decades-long political career.
Abbott won three terms as state attorney general before winning election and two re-elections as Texas governor.
So his advice to former President Trump ahead of Tuesday’s first and potentially only debate between the GOP presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris — the Democratic Party’s nominee — is “Let Harris talk.”
“The more she talks without talking into a teleprompter, the more she shows America that she’s really not up to the task,” Abbott emphasized in an interview with Fox News Digital along the sidelines of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addresses the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas on Thursday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Abbott asserted that “if he [Trump] lets her talk and if he focuses on three issues — one is the border, another is the inflation caused by Harris and [President] Biden, and the other is the rapid crime that we see in some cities, caused by people like Harris and [her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz — Americans are going to understand the last thing they want to do is to have Kamala Harris running our country, because it would be run into the ground.”
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The governor endorsed Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination last November — before the start early this year of voting in the Republican primaries — when the two leaders teamed up for an event along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Earlier this week, Abbott was on the campaign trail in battleground Arizona on behalf of Trump. And he says he will continue to make the case for the former president.
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 30. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)
“I will remain on the campaign trail for President Trump because no one knows more about what’s going on on the border than I do,” said the border state governor.
Border security has also long been a top issue for Abbott, who has sparred repeatedly with the Biden administration. And border security is all but certain to remain a top issue for Abbott, who will start gearing up next year for a 2026 run for a fourth-straight four-year term steering Texas.
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Abbott charged that “Americans need to learn the reality, both of how the policy changed under Biden and Harris and what Kamala Harris would do to pretty much put America on a pathway of destruction.”
If the former president wins back his old job, Abbott predicts a second Trump term would be productive.
“During his first term, we worked well, especially on border security-based issues. But it’s going to be better this time in part because he will come to office knowing far more than he did when he entered office last time, knowing which levers to pull, what can be done, and the strategies and how to quickly take care of it,” the governor said.
“I’ve talked to him in recent times about what his plans are. He’s going to be far more aggressive this time than he was last time because he has to find a way to course correct from all the damage caused to the United States by Harris and Biden,” Abbott argued.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
