Abstract
Political debates are a specific form of communicative interaction between participants, which is characterized by polylogicity and theatricality. In debates, politicians try to create a positive impression of their political program in the audience, to convince them and impress them by pointing out that they belong to the group of "friends".
It is important for debate participants not only to present their political position to a wide audience, but also to interact with their political opponents ("foe"). At the same time, politicians can adhere to various speech strategies (cooperative, conflictive, neutralizing, etc.).
To implement a discrediting strategy in political debates, various speech tactics are used: accusation tactics, negative evaluation, labeling, direct and indirect insults, etc. In the speeches of politicians, various means of expression are used, which strengthen the pragmatic influence on the recipient's consciousness: metaphors, similes, idioms and colloquial vocabulary.