Just like that, Donald Trump went from being three years younger than his opponent in the upcoming election to being 19 years older. That change seems to have left Trump a wee bit confused. In the hours since President Joe Biden announced that he would not be a candidate for the 2024 nomination, Trump has posted at least seven times on social media … and every one of them is about Biden.
He even seems to be begging for Biden to come back.
It’s all understandable. Trump’s schtick hasn’t really changed since 2019. And for a guy as old as Trump, breaking in new material is hard.
Trump twisted, turned, and tried multiple approaches since Sunday afternoon. He repeatedly claimed that Biden did not really test positive for COVID-19 and had dropped out of the race because [insert conspiracy theory here].
He complained that Biden wasn’t fit to run the country, he whined about the money his campaign had wasted smearing Biden, and he claimed that Democrats are somehow “stealing” the election from Biden.
He was still at it Monday morning, complaining about Biden while giving a shout-out to his authoritarian pals.
But what he hasn’t done in any of these posts is mention Vice President Kamala Harris, the person he will actually be facing on Election Day.
Trump just can’t quit Biden.
Republicans have supposedly been developing a strategy for running against Harris. But after months of calling for Biden to drop out, one Republican strategist now says they are feeling like “the dog that caught the car” and that they were “less than enthusiastic” about the change in their Democratic opponent.
In recent rallies, Trump seems to have nothing to say about the vice president except to call her “crazy” and complain that she laughs a lot. That … isn’t a strategy.
As The Atlantic reports, Republicans still celebrating after what they viewed as a successful Republican National Convention in Milwaukee which ended Thursday “registered shock at the news of Biden’s departure.” They thought they had this thing all wrapped up. They had their strategy in place. Swing state polls looked good. The commercials were all shot. And they were planning to coast until November on the same attacks they had been using for years.
The one thing that concerned the co-managers of Trump’s campaign was the idea of Biden stepping aside in favor of a younger nominee. They thought that threat was past:
By the time of the debate, however, they believed that Democrats’ window had all but closed. Even in the immediate aftermath—as Democratic officials openly called for Biden to quit—[Susan] Wiles and [Chris] LaCivita were betting on the status quo. More than anything, Trump’s allies believed that the president’s stubborn Irish ego wouldn’t let him back out of a fight with a man he despised.
Well, surprise, smart guys. You were wrong.
Trump still can’t even manage to type Harris’ name into his complaints. But give him time. He’ll get there. Right now, all Trump can do is keep attacking Biden—and fume.
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