Welcome to Meet the Press Now, I'm Kristen Welker at NBC Election Headquarters in New York

as we gear up for a potentially election-defining moment with just 56 days to go.

The stage is now set and we're getting our first look at it just

hours from the start of the first presidential debate between Vice President

Harris and former President Trump in Philadelphia. The Harris campaign has been hunkered down for days now,

preparing for tonight with intensive prep sessions and mock debates complete with a

stage and TV lighting, working on strategies to get under Mr. Trump's skin. The campaign also

running a new ad in places they hope Trump will see it mocking him over crowd size.

The 78 year old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems.

Oh, she had a big crowd, all her to crowd.

This weird obsession with crowd sizes. It just goes on and all and all.

Now sources tell NBC news that Harris will try to expose the former president's

tendency to say things that aren't true or get information mixed up and that it is

not lost on Harris that Trump's last debate performance effectively knocked Biden out of the race.

Meanwhile, former President Trump telling NBC's Garrett Haak in a phone call earlier today,

quote, you don't know what to expect with Harris tonight. She's changed all of her

policies over the years. Sources say that former president will try to force Harris

to own her past positions on the

the progressive issues. Ahead of the debate, voters also weighing in telling

NBC news their expectations for stability on the stage tonight are not very high.

I would just hope that it sticks to a clean debate like talking about things not just

making fun of the other candidate. It could be chaos I mean I didn't think of it as having front to front with with

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