The president is increasingly turning to personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his 2024 Republican opponent.
As President Joe Biden works to defeat Donald Trump, he’s increasingly focused on another goal he thinks will help him achieve that: getting under his skin.
In recent weeks, both in private and public settings, Biden has ramped up personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his Republican opponent, targeting his financial challenges, his campaign tempo and even his weight.
It’s a strategy largely driven by Biden himself, according to multiple aides and advisers familiar with the approach.
There’s a large swath of what Gene Wilder might call “the common clay of the new west” who vote purely on who can appear to be the toughest. It’s like some pack behavior of exerting dominance that you’d see in animals.
Uneducated, usually rural people who like Trump because “he tells it like it is” or “he’s a boss who knows how to lead”, when in reality he just constantly makes shit up and runs his businesses into the ground.
I think these people will see Biden’s remarks and Trump getting upset at them and view it as a sign that Biden is “tougher” than Trump. Which is dumb, but if it means a more progressive government and avoiding the regression under Trunk I’ll take it.
Maybe. But the right is full of wannabe macho personas, so it’s more likely that the voters that value that are deeply indoctrinated in right wing propaganda. I doubt Biden dumping on Trump would sway that.
I do think that revolving into petty name calling with “catchy” nicknames like “Broke Don” may be effective for similar reasons, though. I don’t think it’s about toughness, it’s about drama. An unfortunately large portion of American voters are just interested in the theatrics. That’s why a shitty reality TV host gained traction in the first place.
The daily show / late night show should lend the Biden campaign some writers. Tone and delivery aren’t Bidens strengths, but I’m sure they could come up with some nicknames and catchphrases that are better than “Broke Don” that he could put to use.
Last time around part of Trump’s strategy was to dominate the news cycle with a never ending torrent of outlandish statements and behavior. Free advertising. And of course he’s going to do it again because his fundraising is much less than Biden’s at this point. And he probably can’t help himself as that’s all he knows how to do and it works on his base.
One could argue that it’s a wise idea to co-opt that free campaign exposure by joining in instead of fighting back or fact checking or correcting the record like they had in the past.
His campaign strategy is… wrestling a pig?
More like fighting a bull. If the bull was fat and stupid and ugly.
Ole!
Super thin, really easy to get under it. :)
Some people say it’s the thinnest skin ever - we only use the greatest skin.
It’ll be fun to watch. I guess we’ll have to wait to see how good a strategy it is, though.
This. It’s cheesy and dumb and not exactly presidential, but easily blamed on some low-level staffer and fun to watch.
The bar for presidential behaviour is long since dead and buried.
Unless he means with a filet knife I’m not impressed.
It could work for those that pay close attention sure. Those that actually listen to the things Trump says and how he responds to things, sure. But those people probably aren’t voting for Trump anyway. People that are voting for him don’t pay that close attention. They’re not actually listening to the full speeches they’re just listen to the clips they want to see on Facebook. They’re not reading about the campaign promises and the platforms, they’re just listening to talk radio and looking at memes. So while I like this strategy, I’m not sure it’ll do much.
I don’t disagree, but is there anything Biden could do that would matter to people who aren’t watching?
Wouldn’t getting under his skin cause his makeup to crack?
Car fillers, like Bondo, are sturdier than you think.
aw yeh, make this election all about Trump.
to be fair i think his main selling point for most people is simply that he’s not trump
(and this is a very important quality to have in a president, just to be clear)
It’s an important quality as president. It’s a self sabotaging quality as a presidential candidate.
That is why democrats got Trump elected in the first place with their pied piper strategy. Just so they can still destroy the planet and threaten us that if we don’t vote for them, Trump will win. They are holding the whole US hostage as terrorists.
I wish he would spend more time focusing on policies that are good for Americans, and discussing his plans for addressing foreign conflicts. It just seems so immature that both candidates are wasting time and money by attacking one another. We have wars in foreign countries that are going to affect us. Carbon emissions are still too high from power plants and shipping companies in foreign countries. We have a homelessness problem while apartments and houses sit vacant. We could be discussing basic income to keep people housed and help them pay their bills, or other basic living expenses. Instead of doing his job, he’s picking school yard fights with someone who has the mentality of a school aged child.
Biden could promise the moon, but the Republicans and conservatives will still thumb their nose at him. Undermining Trump, making him look weak, and keeping him angry is the best way to make him screw up and alienate conservatives who are on the fence.
It’s not immature, it is their calculated tactic so that you have to vote for people that broadly represent almost identical politics. They don’t wont to promise any good things, just promise that they will not be as bad as the other candidate and then they are free to do whatever they want. This is why Democrats got Trump as a Republican candidate. source
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In recent weeks, both in private and public settings, Biden has ramped up personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his Republican opponent, targeting his financial challenges, his campaign tempo and even his weight.
Earlier this month, the president also directly addressed Trump’s legal woes and financial issues, saying “the other day a defeated man” who was “crushed by debt” had approached him.
Biden has regularly been referring to Trump as a “loser,” underscoring the fact that the lost the 2020 election in both private fundraisers and in on-camera remarks at campaign field office openings.
“President Trump honored the life and legacy of Officer Diller and paid respects to his family, friends, and the NYPD for their terrible loss,” Cheung said in a statement.
In smaller meetings with senior staff, Biden will make jokes about Trump that then get launched into larger digital content that the re-election effort uses on various social media platforms.
At the end of the Radio City Music Hall event with Obama and Clinton on Thursday, the trio did their best impressions of Biden by donning his infamous aviator sunglasses.
The original article contains 714 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
