Clinton debate strategy: Attack Trump's insecurities

With less than a month to go before the first presidential debate Hillary Clinton's team is plotting ways to get under Donald Trump's skin, hoping to goad him into making a fatal mistake in front of his biggest audience yet.

Clinton's team is poring over his previous debates, speaking with the ghostwriter behind Trump's best-selling memoir and other experts to draw up a psychoanalytical profile they hope will expose his vulnerabilities as a debater, a report in The New York Times explains.

The Democratic nominee has all but disappeared from the public eye in August, taking advantage as Americans are distracted by the Labor Day holiday and heading back to school, to pull in millions at closed-door fundraisers and bury herself in debate preparation.

See some of Clinton's biggest debates from over the years:

Considered a skilled and deeply prepared debater, Clinton and her team are researching her opponent, relying on the expertise of, among others, Tony Schwartz, who spent 18 months in the mid-1980s in close contact with Trump as he penned "The Art of the Deal." Earlier this summer, Schwartz spoke out about the experience for the first time, describing the real estate mogul a "sociopath."

In a profile in the New Yorker last month, Schwartz described Trump as a narcissist with a short attention span, a deep need for affirmation and little interest in studying complex problems.

The report in the Times suggests that Clinton and her advisers think they can bait Trump by homing in on what they believe to be his deepest insecurities: his intelligence, his business success and his fortune.

She is also practicing parries for what her team expects will be a barrage of personal attacks, such as those focused on the infidelities of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, or her health, as well as broad swipes at her real vulnerabilities, like her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.

Despite his inexperience as a political debater, Trump was able to command the spotlight during the Republican primary debates, insulting and overwhelming his opponents. Pundits often declared his performances problematic, but he nonetheless rose in the polls over 16 rivals as voters responded to his unconventional style.

RELATED: Meet the people running Hillary Clinton's campaign
%vine-url="https://vine.co/v/5imQmKOAxQ3"%

For his part, Trump has resisted the traditional avenues of preparation, including the usual mock debate rehearsals.

"I believe you can prep too much for those things," Trump told the Times in an interview. "It can be dangerous. You can sound scripted or phony – like you're trying to be someone you're not."

"I know who I am, and it got me here," he said. "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."