Hillary Clinton is plotting to take down Donald Trump in the debates. Credit:Getty The Clinton team reportedly is consulting Tony Schwartz who, as the ghostwriter to Trump's Art of the Deal, spent 18 months in Trump's orbit back in the 1980s – hoping to unearth what The New York Times describes as "Trump's deepest insecurities, as they devise strategies to needle and undermine him" in the debates. Psychologists have been enlisted to opine on how Trump might respond to the very different circumstances of these debates – in the GOP primary encounters, he was one of an initially crowded field, there were bathroom breaks in which advice could be sought, thoughts uncluttered; but each of the coming encounters is a straight, uninterrupted 90 minutes on stage and Trump will be alone, facing a female opponent. To the extent that Clinton wants to use policy detail, it's being parsed as a cudgel to "crush Trump on live television." she is "searching for ways to bait [Trump] into making blunders…to unnerve him…[to] provoke him to rant and rave." Trump reportedly wants to pose as a Washington outsider, the non-politician and so-called truth-teller who can fell Clinton on issues of ethics and honesty – and to get all bare-knuckled about Clinton's personal life.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP But in a remarkable acknowledgement of Trump's unique candidate's persona, the Clinton team is still shopping for a Trump stand-in, who can mirror Trump's wildness and dish out to her, the deeply personal attacks that he is expected to launch about her family's business and about her husband's infidelities – and his belief that she was an enabler in the bad personal behaviour of former president Bill Clinton. By contrast, the Trump camp boasts a useful Clinton stand-in, arch conservative radio talking head Laura Ingraham – but Trump reportedly is resistant to engaging in mock debates. Bill Maher, left, with Tony Schwartz, co-author of Donald Trump's book The Art of the Deal, who is reportedly helping Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP Possibly sticking to his mistaken belief that the general election is no different to the primaries battle for the nomination, Trump claims "I know who I am, and it got me here" – a reference to how he saw off his 16 Republican challengers. "I don't want to present a false front. I mean, it's possible we'll do a mock debate, but I don't see a real need," he told the Times.

Trump apparently believes that he can see off Clinton as he saw off the other Republicans – relying less on policy strengths or weaknesses, than on an uncanny capacity to worm into their psyches, with derisive name-calling and personal put-downs that did have the remarkable power to make his opponents curl up and die – politically. Donald Trump: policy is not considered a strength of his. Credit:Screengrab/CNN Clinton is being coached in something similar – to exploit Trump's insecurities about his intelligence, his wealth and his image as a successful businessman, the objective being for her to remain calm and deliberate while exposing Trump's very uncommander-in-chiefish qualities – bombastic, volatile and with a self-stated belief that the best feeling in life is "getting even." "I believe you can prep too much for these things," Trump told the Times. "It can be dangerous. You can sound scripted or phony – like you are trying to be someone you're not." In this, Trump is implicitly acknowledging a weakness – he doesn't cope well with the detail stuff, a burden with which Clinton excels. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Virginia. Credit:AP

The importance of Clinton's gender can't be understated. In boasting of his success in the GOP's primary debates, Trump doesn't acknowledge that his worst moments were in dealing with women – with Megyn Kelly whose questions, in her role as a Fox News moderator, provoked some of his worst misogyny; and with would-be nominee Carly Fiorina, who left Trump speechless as she smacked him down for his infamous: "Look at [Fiorina's] face – would anyone vote for that?" Trump has declared that any aspect of Clinton's life is fair game – her husband's womanising, her "enabling" role in attempting to discredit the women who outed the former president and the Clinton's business deals as far back as the 1970s. But his own business deals will be under the microscope – and in particular, his refusal to release his tax returns. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is preparing for what will be a historic debate. Credit:AP The debates promise to be an incredible contest – Clinton, the policy wonk, who needs to be human and a fighter as well; Trump, the barroom brawler who has to convey the decency and good sense that often are absent in his public appearances. And here's the warning for Trump – Clinton struggles in polling on voter perceptions of her, but her polls have surged when her personal life has been used as a political weapon – during her husband's affair with Monica Lewinski, the Kenneth Starr investigation of Bill Clinton; her 2000 senate race, when her GOP opponent physically invaded her personal space during a debate; and in the 2008 primaries, with her win in New Hampshire after Barack Obama dismissively said she was "likable enough."

The 2015 paperback reprint of the 1987 book Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump with Tony Schwartz. Trump claims he's across all this – but insists he can succeed where others have failed and still emerge as Captain Clean. "Just getting nasty with Hillary Clinton won't work," he told the Times. "You really have to get people to look hard at her character, and to get women to ask themselves if Hillary is truly sincere and authentic. Because she has been really ugly in trying to destroy Bill's mistresses, and she is pandering to women so obviously, when she is only interested in getting power." Ah, yes – it'll be that ugly. Here's how onetime Trump adviser Sam Nunberg, casts the debates: "Not only does [Trump] want 100 million TV viewers, he wants to be a showstopper at the Roman Coliseum, the main event at WrestleMania – he's going to love this, eat it up and take her on. For Hillary to go in and think she'll be professional and wonky, or give a long lecture, that'll play against her."