As Democrat after Democrat raises questions about whether President Biden should or will remain the party's presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump has maintained an unusual public silence on the issue.
Trump, who is rarely shy about voicing his opinions, has not been completely silent since last week's debate, giving several radio interviews and continuing to post regular posts and videos on his social media platform, Truth Social. But he has largely stayed on the sidelines, allowing Democrats to dominate the debate over Biden's political future, a signal for his preferred opponent.
After months of relentlessly attacking Biden as too physically and mentally frail to lead the country, the former president has resigned to letting reports take hold that Democrats doubt the leader of their party, said two advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy.
The president's relative reticence to comment publicly on the matter reflects in part his desire to keep Biden in the race and his confidence that he can easily win the presidential election in November, one of the advisers said.
A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted after the debate and released Wednesday suggested some Republicans agree: 28% of them said they thought Biden should remain the Democratic nominee, up from 21% in a poll conducted before the debate.
Trump on Monday publicly rejected the idea that the Democratic candidate would replace him as president.
“When you listen to the experts in this job, they say it would be very hard for anyone else to get into the race,” Trump said in an interview with Virginia radio host John Reed.
And, echoing a talking point Biden's Democratic allies have long used to make the case that Biden is best positioned to beat the former president, Trump has also argued that polls show Biden is “doing better than the people they see as his successor.”
The day after the debate, Trump argued at a rally in Virginia that Biden would be more likely to be approved of in a head-to-head match against him than Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Michelle Obama, both of whom said they would be “very happy” to face him.
Two polls released Tuesday weakened that argument somewhat. A CNN poll showed Ms. Harris leading Mr. Biden by 2 percentage points in a hypothetical matchup with Mr. Trump, but Biden still won. And an Ipsos/Reuters poll showed Mrs. Obama, an unlikely choice for Democrats because she has repeatedly said she has no interest in running, beat Mr. Trump in the hypothetical matchup 50 percent to 39 percent.
In a graphic video first reported by The Daily Beast on Wednesday and later shared by Trump himself, Trump appeared to enjoy mocking his rival. It's unclear who originally filmed the video or when it was taken. According to the video of Trump's remarks, while playing golf on the grounds of his New Jersey home, he called Biden “that old, run-down pile of junk” and suggested he might drop out of the race.
If Biden loses, Trump will lose two of the central ammunition of his campaign: his years of attacking Biden as “sleepy,” posting videos of him stumbling, mocking his speeches and doing cartoonish imitations of Biden — attacks that he can't easily deploy against another opponent.
Trump has also spent the past few months trying to appeal to undecided voters by drawing direct, often misleading, comparisons between his time in office and Biden's — a message that would be hindered if another candidate ran to replace Biden.
A new opponent could create new political challenges: Trump could face a younger challenger who could appeal to voters concerned about the age of both candidates and looking for new options to two men each seeking White House terms.
““I don't think anyone on the Trump campaign has ever said they wanted to remove Biden from the running,” said Corey Lewandowski, a longtime Trump adviser who now serves as counsel to the Republican nominating convention, adding that “we have a very strong advantage in our favor in having two candidates who the American people know well and who have comparable track records.”
The Heritage Foundation, a major conservative group, is also considering filing legal claims that would make it difficult for some states to replace Biden as their candidate if he withdraws.
Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Oversight Project, said the group is looking at key battleground states such as Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin where laws could make it difficult to put another Democratic candidate on the ballot.
Trump campaign managers Suzie Wiles and Chris LaCivita expressed confidence in a statement Wednesday that Trump “can beat any Democrat” in the November election. They denounced Democrats currently running against Biden as hypocrites, saying “they have all lied about Joe Biden's cognitive status and supported his disastrous policies for the past four years.”
There are signs that some in Trump's circle are preparing more seriously for the possibility, however unlikely, of a showdown with another Democratic candidate this fall. The Trump campaign and his Republican allies have stepped up attacks on Harris, a long-time target on the right.
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump's campaign called Harris “snickering co-pilot Kamala Harris,” mocking her mannerisms and directly linking her to Biden's policies. During the debate, the campaign ran ads suggesting Biden is not capable of leading the country through a second term and warning that Harris will wait around for her successor.
Make America Great Again, a major super PAC supporting Trump's campaign, sent out a list of attacks on Harris on Tuesday morning, essentially arguing that she is no different from Biden, particularly on immigration, an issue that Trump has made a central issue of his campaign.
On Wednesday, the House Republican Elections Committee New digital advertising announced The ad ties Harris to Biden's border policies, and a title card at the end of the ad reads, “Vote Republican. Stop Kamala.”
“Any good campaign will plan for every contingency,” Lewandowski said. “While we have not changed our campaign strategy, it would be a dereliction of duty to not be prepared in the event that Joe Biden drops out of the race.”
Still, in a video clip from his golf club, Trump was already looking at Harris, not Biden, as his opponent.
“The thing is, we have Kamala,” Trump said, “and I think she'll be better. She's really bad. She's really pathetic.”
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and a close ally of Trump warned on social media about how Ms Harris could change the 2024 campaign if she becomes the nominee.
“I think the Trump campaign recognizes that the 2024 race could shift dramatically from Biden's capabilities to a battle for the heart and soul of the country,” Graham wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon.
And if this scenario plays out, Republicans “will need to build on President Trump's ability to expand our party's base in 2024,” Graham added.
