Former President Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to dismiss President Biden’s strong debate performance as a sham.
Trump and other conservatives have made the baseless claim in recent days that if Biden does well in next week’s debate in Atlanta, it will be because he is using some kind of performance enhancer.
The claims echo a similar strategy that Trump and others used to downplay Biden’s well-received State of the Union address earlier in the year. They also come as some Republicans fear Biden will challenge the caricature Trump and right-wing media have painted of him as a weak, confused old man.
“Republicans would do well to play down expectations,” said one Republican strategist. “Make it clear that Biden is a good debater.”
Trump has so far refused to make that case. Instead, he has oscillated between claims that Biden is weak and incompetent and preemptively trying to create a narrative that if Biden does well it is because he had help from some mysterious, unnamed substance.
“He’s going to be so excited. He’s going to be excited,” Trump told his supporters at a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
In response to questions about Trump’s debate preparation, senior campaign adviser Jason Miller also hinted that Biden would use some type of substance during the debate.
“President Trump gives countless tough interviews every week and gives long speeches at stand-up rallies, demonstrating elite resilience,” Miller said in a statement. “It doesn’t need to be programmed by staff or injected with chemicals like Joe Biden does.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity, who is also a friend of Trump, suggested during his show earlier this month that Trump might consider skipping the June 27 debate and suggested that Biden would be aided by Red Bull, caffeine pills or any another thing.
“Everything Joe drank, ate, took before the State of the Union – maybe it was just Red Bull and caffeine pills. I don’t know. Whatever it was, it wasn’t your average Joe,” Hannity said. “We’ve never seen this before and we haven’t seen this since. But we will see that for the debate.”
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the claims made by Trump and his allies.
But even as Trump sought to set the narrative around a strong Biden performance, he also repeatedly lowered the bar for his opponent.
At his rally in Wisconsin alone, Trump referred to Biden as “incompetent”, “weak”, “failed” and said he “has no idea” and “doesn’t know where he stands”. Trump had already stated that Biden “doesn’t know he’s alive.” He joked at one point that he would also be debating moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, meaning he would be facing “three people instead of half of one person.”
Republicans in recent days have shared videos of Biden, some of them misleadingly edited or cropped, and claimed the footage shows Biden freezing or wandering.
The White House has strongly rejected those videos, calling them “cheap fakes,” and arguing that Republicans are making misleading claims about Biden’s competence because they cannot challenge the president’s legislative record.
Biden’s campaign on Thursday posted a two-minute montage of footage from Trump’s presidency in which Trump turned away from world leaders or signed a bill too early or headed in the wrong direction.
While Republicans routinely question Biden’s acumen and toughness, the president has shown throughout his first term that he is capable of delivering strong, forceful speeches at big moments.
His last two State of the Union addresses have been well-received, including in 2023, when he essentially urged Republicans in the audience to agree that cuts to Medicare and Social Security should be off the table.
Biden gave a clear and forceful speech earlier this year, on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, in which he warned of the threat Trump poses to democracy, effectively kicking off his re-election bid.
“It’s a great moment for both, but the stakes are much higher for Biden,” said Doug Heye, a former Capitol Hill aide and spokesman for the Republican National Committee (RNC). “Given the legitimate questions about his age and how difficult it is sometimes to listen to him, he cannot afford to cement that in the minds of voters – especially the double haters. A very serious slip-up could mean Democrats saying publicly what they have been saying privately about their concerns about Biden.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
