“I’m going to run and I’m going to campaign, whether it’s him or somebody else,” Trump said in an interview Monday with Richmond radio host John Reid, referring to polls showing he is doing as well or better than other Democrats.
“The funny thing is, we’re beating him in the polls by a lot, but nobody else is doing better,” he added in an interview broadcast Monday with radio host John Fredericks.
It is unusual for Trump, who is more accustomed to grabbing headlines, to let Biden be the center of attention. But he has kept a low profile since the debate, with no public events scheduled. His running mate is expected to be announced as early as next week, and the Republican National Convention is the following week.
The message from Trump’s campaign to representatives after last week’s debate was that Biden is the Democratic nominee and Democrats are obligated to support him, according to a Republican close to the campaign, who, like others interviewed for this article, was not authorized to speak publicly. Biden struggled through the 90-minute face-off, setting off widespread alarm in his party.
“It seems like they want Biden to stay on the ticket. They think he’s vulnerable and they like their situation. You can tell they’re not at all excited about him leaving the race,” said David Axelrod, a longtime Obama strategist.
Trump advisers were privately stunned by Biden’s poor performance, people familiar with the matter said, believing he would be a better debater.
Taylor Budowich, who heads Trump’s outside political action committee, said clips from Thursday’s debate “would make devastating campaign ads.” But Budowich also said Harris’ nomination “has the ad team laughing with excitement.” On Wednesday, the political action committee, known as MAGA Inc., released an attack on Harris, titled “Is Kamala Harris, the Invasion Czar, the Best They’ve Had?”
Biden’s campaign and the White House have insisted the president remains committed to running and are planning more campaign events and at least one television interview. The campaign said it raised $127 million in June, ending the month with $240 million in cash, compared with Trump’s $111.8 million and $285 million in the bank.
The outgoing president and his aides have sought to maintain the offensive against Trump, attacking him on issues including abortion and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. On Monday, Biden responded to a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, saying it would give Trump “more audacity to do whatever he wants” in a second term.
Trump’s campaign expects him to be the Democratic nominee, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “We are confident that no matter what happens, we will be victorious and tie any Democratic candidate with Biden and the Democratic Party,” she added.
The Trump campaign has begun running ads suggesting Harris is celebrating Biden’s struggles, showing her laughing in a way that is meant to appear mean and collapsing the Biden-Harris campaign logo to make the president’s name disappear. The campaign is also attacking other Democratic candidates for their past defenses of Biden, accusing them of covering up the president’s decline.
Republicans have indicated they will attack any Democratic attempt to replace Biden as an affront to Democratic primary voters and the democratic process.
“What greater threat to democracy than to choose a nominee after the primaries, when millions of people, Democratic primary voters, have already voted, and then try to replace him at a convention with a few hundred Democratic leaders?” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential vice presidential candidate, said after Thursday’s debate. “This is the greatest threat to democracy that has been contemplated for the American government in recent memory.”
Outside of the campaign, lawyers at the right-wing Heritage Foundation have been studying ballot access laws in all 50 states to be prepared to oppose any effort to impeach or replace Biden after he officially becomes the Democratic nominee.
“Our research has basically shown that this is an extremely complicated case and that it opens the door to a lot of lawsuits,” said Mike Howell, director of Heritage’s Oversight Project. “You have a right to dance with the girl you took to prom. An American election can’t be made up as it happens, and the fact that such a massive lie was told to the American people is not a convenient enough excuse to get around the laws.”
“We like to live by the rule that when your opponent is killing himself, you better stay away,” said Ralph Reed, president of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “I think after Thursday, we’re going to hand it over to Joe Biden and the Democrats who have organized themselves into a circular firing squad.”
Trump himself has been relatively quiet this week, and some of his advisers have said they want him to delay choosing his vice president as long as possible to let Democrats grapple with their own issues. Two people who have spoken to Trump in recent days said he remains focused on Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). as potential choices, while also mentioning other names, such as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
“I don’t think he’s really made up his mind,” said one person who spoke to him several times.
Leavitt said: “Very soon, President Trump will make an announcement about a vice presidential nominee who will be far more qualified and competent than Kamala Harris.”
Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Trump ally, argued that Trump didn’t need to say much about the debate. “The art of politics is to tell people what they can’t see, not what they can see,” Conway said. “People just can’t forget what they saw in that moment.”
As Democrats panicked over Biden’s poor performance in Thursday’s debate and his ability to run his campaign or stay in office for four more years, Trump welcomed more favorable developments, including a Supreme Court ruling that delayed and could eventually eliminate his criminal risk. His lawyers won a delay in his sentencing on 34 felonies in New York until September, if at all, as the judge said he would consider the effects of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts.
Some members of Trump’s campaign have expressed glee at the Democratic Party’s collapse by posting online insults, sometimes crude, directed at Biden and his team. But aides have also warned against appearing arrogant or jeopardizing their own momentum.
“Right now, the entire Biden reelection campaign is in free fall,” Fredericks said in an interview Tuesday. “All you have to do is get out of the way. Let them implode.”
News Source : www.washingtonpost.com
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