2020
ELECTIONS
‘The Super Bowl’ of politics: Why the debate is
so crucial for Trump and Biden
It might be the last chance for Trump to shake up a
race that's been remarkably stable.
By NATASHA
KORECKI and ALEX ISENSTADT
09/28/2020
04:30 AM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/28/why-the-debate-is-crucial-for-trump-and-biden-422319
Tuesday
night’s debate might be the last chance for Donald Trump and Joe Biden to
command the collective attention of swing-state voters who will decide the
election: By the second debate in mid-October, many of them will have already
cast their ballots through early voting.
It’s why
both campaigns have long had Sept. 29 marked on their calendars. A big night
for Trump or a bad night for Biden could alter the trajectory of a race that’s
barely budged during months of nationwide upheaval.
“This
debate will be watched by the country as though it’s tuning into the Super
Bowl,” said Mari Will, a debate coach and longtime Republican political
adviser.
Or, as
Republican strategist Michael Steel put it: “In a race that has been remarkably
stable — in the face of earth-shaking events — the debates, particularly the
first one, represent one of the last real chances to change the terms of the
contest.”
With those
stakes in mind, POLITICO interviewed more than a dozen campaign aides and
outside allies about the candidates’ preparations and expectations for the
90-minute showdown at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Here’s a look at what we learned.
Biden’s
imperative: Don’t play Trump’s game
Stick to
Covid-19 and the economy. Don’t waste valuable time fact-checking the
president, except perhaps his most egregious falsehoods. And be ready for Trump
to go after your kid — and your brothers.
These are
among the pointers Biden’s advisers are giving the candidate in prep sessions
ahead of the debate.
Biden took
time off the trail last week to prepare with a small group of advisers in his
Wilmington, Del. home. His team expects that Trump, given his disregard for
rules or boundaries, will get personal and possibly nasty.
One person
familiar with the campaign’s thinking said the team is bracing Biden for the
likelihood that Trump will attempt to weaponize past business dealings by his
family members, who the candidate is especially protective of.
“They’re
not only coming after Hunter, they’re coming after Frank and Jim,” the person
said of Biden’s son and his brothers.
The former
vice president will attempt to draw stark contrasts with Trump on leadership
style by asking viewers, for example, to imagine what it would be like to have
a president who believes in science.
Much like
he did in the Democratic primary, Biden is expected to portray himself as the
candidate of unity and healing, while depicting Trump as a president pulling
the nation apart.
“The goal
for this debate is to not be a fact-checker of Donald Trump. His goal is to
communicate directly to the American people and to outline his vision for how
we overcome the pandemic, finally,” said a second person familiar with the
Biden campaign’s thinking.
Biden could
differentiate himself from the president simply by noting that the pandemic
death toll has surpassed 200,000 and by paying tribute to the victims — two
things Trump has been reluctant to do.
“Biden is
someone who speaks to that pain and actually sees people and understands.
That’s one of the most important things he can do in this debate,” says Karen
Finney, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Hillary Clinton.
Democrats
expect the president to do his best to steer the conversation away from
coronavirus. They point to Trump's recent comments at campaign rallies about
Hunter Biden as evidence of his probable strategy.
“It’ll be
despicable. But I guarantee you that in debate prep, they’re saying the
nastiest things about Hunter they can think of because Donald Trump will say
anything and is capable of anything … They’re well aware of that,” said Matt
Bennett, co-founder of the center-left group Third Way. “Trump plays only to
one audience all the time, it’s the red meat audience.”
Former
Hillary Clinton aide Phillipe Reines, who played Trump in mock debates in 2016,
said Biden can’t afford to allow Trump to knock him off message. If he could
have one do-over in 2016, Reines said, it would be to insist that Clinton abide
by one hard-and-fast rule.
“If you
find yourself defending yourself for more than 10 seconds, then stop,” Reines
said. “There’s an opportunity cost to not talking to the audience. You can
bicker with Donald Trump for 45 minutes if you want. You can also talk to 100
million people at home.”
Trump has
engaged in what allies describe as unconventional debate preparations, relying
more on his daily give-and-take with the media than on traditional practice
sessions. Still, he has been planning for the debate with several of his top
advisers, including Jason Miller, Bill Stepien, and Jared Kushner. Former New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently traveled to Washington for a prep session
with the president in the White House that lasted several hours.
Christie
and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared with Trump in the White
House briefing room Sunday evening. The president said both had been playing
the role of Biden in prep sessions.
Still, some
senior advisers have privately expressed concern that the president has been
unfocused in the run-up to the debate.
Trump aides
said they want to use the debate to draw out Biden on some of his more liberal
positions, such as his support for the Green New Deal, in hopes of softening
the former vice president’s support among more moderate voters. Senior
Republicans say Trump’s objective is simple: To spend his time keeping Biden on
defense — and to not spend too much time in back-and-forths over his first-term
record, especially on Covid-19.
The hope
among Republicans is that Trump avoids the fate that befell past incumbents
like Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who faltered in the first debate of their
reelection campaigns.
“The
pressure is on the president,” said Steel, who was also involved in Paul Ryan’s
2012 debate prep and advised former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in his 2016 primary
debates against Trump. “The president is clearly consistently down in national
polls,” he added, and “it’s very hard to stay sharp and focused and crisp when
you’re in the bubble of the White House and an awful lot of people are crawling
all over each other to kiss your backside all the time.”
Some
Democrats and Republicans think Trump has set Biden up for success by
portraying him as several cards short of a full deck. Republicans spent months
promoting the idea that Biden can’t string together a sentence without a
teleprompter and calling him “Sleepy Joe.” Trump has even suggested that if
Biden performs well at the debate it’s because he’s on performance-altering
drugs.
“Stupidly,
Trump and his side have tried to underestimate Biden. Now they’re screwed,”
said Amanda Loveday, a senior adviser with the pro-Biden Unite the Country
super PAC and former director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.
Some
members of the president’s inner circle regret the strategy and worry the
former vice president will have to do little to clear the bar.
Other
Republicans, however, argued that’s the wrong way to look at it. If Biden slips
up, they say, it will only confirm doubts that Trump has been seeding for
months.
“I think a
lot of folks have big questions about whether or not Joe Biden can sustain a
90-minute debate performance against Donald Trump,” said Brett O’Donnell, a
veteran GOP debate coach who helped Sarah Palin prepare for her 2008 showdown
with Biden. “So should Biden have a moment where he seems lost or makes a
substantial gaffe, it will only reinforce the argument of the Trump campaign
that he’s unfit for office.”
In recent
days, Trump advisers and allies have worked to lower expectations for Biden by
pointing to his strong performances against Palin in 2008 and Ryan in 2012.
Among them is New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who led Ryan’s extensive
preparations for his face-off against Biden.
“Joe Biden
was very well prepared,” Stefanik said. "The debate stage is where he
feels most comfortable.”
Trump has
privately acknowledged to allies that Biden — who has appeared in dozens of
debates during his nearly five-decade career in politics debates — is an accomplished
debater. The president, who focuses relentlessly on press coverage, has also
expressed concern that no matter how the former vice president fares, he will
be treated by the media as the winner.
2020
ELECTIONS
Biden camp clapback: Trump’s best debate case
‘made in urine’
The president has suggested that the two nominees
submit to a drug test before or after Tuesday's debate.
President Donald Trump for months has been portraying
Joe Biden as a sundowning senior who can barely put coherent sentences together
By MARC
CAPUTO
09/27/2020
06:27 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/joe-biden-trump-debate-422328
The 2020
campaign for the White House has reached the bizarre stage where the president
wants his opponent drug tested before they debate — and his rival’s campaign
responds with a potty joke.
This latest
in the race began Sunday morning when President Donald Trump used his Twitter
feed to amplify unfounded statements that Joe Biden takes performance-enhancing
drugs before their first face-off Tuesday night.
“I will be
strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the
Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also,” Trump
wrote. “His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly.
Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???”
Even Biden
had to chuckle at Trump’s latest taunts, although the Democratic nominee opted
against saying anything when a reporter asked him later Sunday about the
president’s demand.
“He’s
almost ...,” Biden said before interrupting himself. “No. I have no comment.”
Later, the
Biden campaign reconsidered.
“Vice
President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the
president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it,” said Kate
Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager. “We’d expect nothing less from
Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans
when he didn't make a plan to stop COVID-19.”
Normally,
Biden’s campaign wouldn’t respond to Trump, calling his comments a distraction
or a case of serial deception or both. Biden, for instance, last week declined
in recent days to say whether he still opposes adding more members to the
Supreme Court and Bedingfield also declined to comment on the idea of Trump not
agreeing to peacefully transfer power if he loses the race to Biden.
But Trump’s
remarks about Biden using drugs and needing a drug test were too weird to pass
up for the campaign, especially because advisers want this process story to
play out because it shows just how much trouble Trump feels he’s in concerning
the debates.
Trump for
months has been portraying Biden as weak and 'sleepy,' but setting expectations
so low heading into a debate all but ensures the former vice president will
more than deliver and has left Trump bracing for a presidential self-own.
So Trump
recently test-drove his new attack line, telling a crowd on Sept. 19 “don't
underestimate {Biden] .... They give [Biden] a big fat shot in the ass, and he
comes out, and for two hours, he's better than ever before.”
For the
record, Biden's longtime advisers and observers note that he doesn't even drink
alcohol.
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