What the debate between Trump and Clinton could tell us about Tuesday's duel with Harris

NEW YORK — He claimed she would raise taxes and accused her of supporting an open-borders policy that would allow an influx of migrants into the country. He blamed her for a litany of the current administration's failings and characterized her potential presidency as four more years of the same.

Donald Trump did not face Vice President Kamala Harris, but Hillary Clinton on the debate stage.

As Trump and Harris prepare for their first – and possibly only – debate on Tuesday, his three meetings with Clinton in 2016 underscore the challenges both candidates face in what is shaping up to be another extremely close election.

Harris will face an experienced and skilled debater who can rattle his opponents with a barrage of insults and interruptions while exuding unwavering confidence and conviction. Trump, meanwhile, will face a long-serving prosecutor known for his well-aimed jabs. He will once again face a woman who could become the country's first female president and will have to grapple with the underlying gender dynamics at play here.

Trump started with good behavior

At their first debate of 2016 in late September, moderated by NBC's Lester Holt, Trump was at his best. He and Clinton shook hands warmly after taking the stage, and Trump said in his first answer that he agreed with his rival on the importance of affordable child care.

After referring to the former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State as “Secretary Clinton,” he made sure she was OK with it.

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

It was Clinton who was the first to throw in the punches that night, criticizing the then-reality TV star and real estate developer for his support of “fake trickle-down economics,” saying their differing views stemmed from the fact that Trump received millions of dollars from his wealthy father while her father worked hard as a drapery printer.

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

But as the debate progressed, Trump became more combative, asking Clinton why she had not done the things she proposed as a presidential candidate during her decades in public life.

“Typical politician: lots of talk, no action. Sounds good, but doesn't work. Will never happen,” he said.

Clinton's strategy: laugh about it

Clinton's strategy in response to Trump's attacks was clear from the start: Don't let it bother you. Laugh about it.

At no point did she appear nervous, but rather smiled broadly as she dismissively dismissed what she once called Trump's “jokes.”

“Here we go again,” she said in response to further insults in the second debate.

“No wonder you've spent your entire adult life fighting ISIS,” Trump once joked, trying to portray Clinton as a politician from the group founded in 2013 who “talks a lot and does nothing.”

“I have a feeling that at the end of the night I'm going to be blamed for everything that ever happened,” Clinton replied with a smile.

“Why not?” Trump replied.

Trump, meanwhile, tried to use the arguments she had made against him against her.

“I have much better judgment than they do… I also have a much better temperament than they do,” he explained. “I think my biggest advantage – maybe by far – is my temperament. I have a winning temperament.”

“You should be ashamed”

The second debate between Trump and Clinton was far more combative. The town hall meeting took place just two days after the release of the Access Hollywood video in which Trump bragged about sexually harassing women.

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

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

“Bill Clinton abused women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them brutally,” he said. “I think that's scandalous and I think she should be ashamed of herself.”

Trump later focused on the thousands of hacked emails that Wikileaks began publishing on the day the tape was released, as well as Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State.

While Clinton sat in her chair, Trump approached her and said that if he won the election, he would instruct his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her conduct.

“There has never been so much lying and deception,” he said. “There has never been anything like this. … Lives have been destroyed because they did a fifth of what you did, and that is a disgrace.”

Clinton once again remained calm and referred readers to her website, where she explained that her campaign team had investigated the false allegations.

“It is just incredibly good that our country is not run by someone with Donald Trump’s temperament,” she said.

“Because you would be in jail,” Trump replied to cheers from the audience.