Megyn Kelly gets debate advice for Trump and Clinton from Charles Krauthammer

Megyn Kelly and Charles Krauthammer debate the debates — (Image credit: Fox News/YouTube)

Monday night is the highly anticipated first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and on Sunday night, Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer — a fan of neither candidate — gave his unsolicited advice to both on Megyn Kelly's Kelly File. He started with Trump, advising that "between now and tomorrow night, decaf only, don't talk about your hands, and in the end, think of yourself in the press conference with the president of Mexico." Kelly pointed out that Trump drinks neither alcohol nor caffeine, so no coffee, and Krauthammer said, "He's off on the right foot."

"Your job in this debate is to make people look at you and think you're a plausible president," Krauthammer said to Trump, and viewers "won't appreciate snarkiness or disrespect," as in the GOP primary debates. Trump's goal isn't to "win on points, not to win on substance," but "to show himself to be calm," he added, which means first and foremost don't "shout."

With Clinton, on the other hand, "I think what she needs to do is jab," Krauthammer said, "not to go for the haymaker, not to go for the one thing that's going to knock him out. He's very good at rope-a-dope and slipping away — you see, all the metaphors are boxing, because this really is a spectacle of boxing." In that vein, what Clinton "needs to do is the flurries, in other words to attack him on many points, calmly but one after another. I'm sure at some point he's going to want to succumb and strike back, and that's her opportunity." What if the debate is boring? Kelly asked. "Boring, he wins," Krauthammer said. "If he can be up there for 90 minutes and be dull, he wins the debate." "I'm excited to see them be dull," Kelly said. "I don't care." Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.