Story highlights Lanhee Chen is a research fellow Hoover Institution who worked for Romney and Rubio

Party People is a new podcast from CNN where a pair of conservative CNN contributors talk to influential voices about the future of conservatism and the Republican party.

Washington (CNN) If Donald Trump thinks his dominance in the Republican primary debates will translate to success in next week's matchup against Hillary Clinton, Lanhee Chen thinks the GOP nominee is in for a surprise.

"He can't fake his way through 90 minutes," Chen, a research fellow Hoover Institution and a CNN contributor, told CNN's Party People podcast hosts Kevin Madden and Mary Katherine Ham.

Trump participated in debates throughout the Republican presidential primary schedule, emerging largely unscathed in the polls after fighting off more than a dozen GOP presidential primary opponents, and locking up the party's nomination by May.

Chen, a Republican policy wonk who worked for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on their respective presidential campaigns, said the general election debates present a different challenge -- in part because he'll have just one other opponent and an increased focus on substance.

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