Less is more: Trump quiet as Biden flounders
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With Mr Biden suffering perhaps the worst week of his political career, Trump appears to have resisted the urge to get out in public and gloat.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON - Since announcing his White House bid, Donald Trump has taken every opportunity to paint US President Joe Biden as so weak and compromised that he would struggle to make it to November’s election, let alone serve another four years.
Yet with the Democratic President suffering perhaps the worst week of his political career, his Republican rival appears to have resisted what must have been a potent urge to get out in public and gloat.
Trump’s rally in Doral, Florida, on July 9 will be his first public event in 11 days, and only the second since Mr Biden’s prime time televised meltdown
Americans have become accustomed to the drumbeat of Trump’s brash campaign rhetoric from the podiums of sports arenas, the precincts of courthouses and conservative cable news studios – so when it stops, they notice.
“Trump’s not talking much about Biden’s bad debate. Trump’s campaign is not blitzing ads about it,” Democratic former White House aide David Axelrod pointed out on social media platform X on July 8.
“And Lara Trump said last week it would be an affront to democracy if Biden were not the nominee. Question: Why do you think they are uncharacteristically holding fire,” he added, referring to the wife of Trump’s second son Eric.
The answer may simply be that the twice-impeached Trump, with civil court adjudications for sexual assault
“When your opponent is self-immolating, the wise thing to do is stay out of his way,” said author, public relations consultant and former White House correspondent Ron Fournier.
Trump offered a limited critique of Mr Biden’s debate performance in an interview with Fox News on July 8, eschewing any mention of a serious condition or any attacks on his mental fitness.
Trump also said he thinks Mr Biden will stay in the race.
“It was a strange debate, because within a couple of minutes, the answers given by him were – they didn’t make a lot of sense,” Trump said.
The Republican said he did not look at Mr Biden during the debate “except when he went a little bit haywire”.
When asked if he thinks Mr Biden should step aside, Trump said: “Well, we prepared for him, but I don’t think it will matter.” He then launched into a list of what he considers his own achievements while in office.
Since his widely panned debate, Mr Biden has failed to assuage fears that, at 81, he is simply no longer able to make the case against another Trump term – let alone lead the free world into the year 2029.
The President has said only the “Lord Almighty” could persuade him to quit the race
All the while, Trump has passed up opportunities for his share of the limelight, preferring to go golfing in New Jersey than to generate headlines that could detract from Mr Biden’s tailspin.
He has even refrained from naming a running mate – a big political set piece that could have garnered days of headlines ahead of next week’s Republican nominating convention in Milwaukee.
“When Donald Trump makes a lot of noise and aggravates a lot of people, that’s one thing,” Democratic former New York governor David Paterson told local radio station WABC 770 on July 7.
“But I think in this particular case, his silence indicates that, ‘Why say something, when everything’s going my way and the Democrats are all over themselves?’”
American dream
None of this is to say that Trump has been completely silent.
Besides the Fox News interview on July 8, in the days after the debate, he has been his usual prolific self on his social media platform, Truth Social – relentlessly posting and reposting videos, newspaper articles and allies’ remarks on Mr Biden’s job performance and competency.
And even the new, restrained Trump has still been indulging in the occasional baseless smear – posting about his “crooked” opponent and the “fascist” Biden administration while reintroducing the nickname “Sleepy Joe”.
Most Democrats see V ice-President Kamala Harris
A poll released by CNN a few days after the debate found that Trump had an edge of 47 per cent support to 45 per cent in a match-up against Ms Harris. His lead against Mr Biden was a much wider 49 per cent to 43 per cent.
His rally will the first opportunity since the clamour for Mr Biden’s withdrawal began gaining momentum to twist the knife in front of the TV cameras – or pull punches for an opponent he sees as critically wounded and an easier kill in November. AFP
