NEW YORK (AP) — After months of calling President Joe Biden a man incapable of speaking two sentences, Donald Trump changed his tune days before their first debate.
“I guess he’ll be a debater,” the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee said in an appearance on “The All-In” podcast last week. “I don’t want to underestimate him,” he added.
The change in rhetoric marks a dramatic shift from how Trump typically describes the man he will face again at the polls in November.
At his rallies and speeches, Trump often calls the current Democratic president “a person of low intelligence” and “the worst, most incompetent and most corrupt president” in the country’s history, often imitating Biden, who appears lost on stage.
The attempt to adjust expectations ahead of Thursday’s showdown in Atlanta comes amid concerns among some in his party that Trump has set the bar so low for Biden that he will surely surpass it. And it underscores the stakes for both men in a race that has seemed largely static for months.
Millions of people are expected to watch the debate on Thursday, offering a unique opportunity for both sides to try to gain momentum in a race likely to be decided by a small fraction of voters in a handful of battleground states.
Trump — who has never admitted he lost fair and square to Biden in 2020 and continues to spread false and unproven theories about voter fraud — is also reportedly preparing a series of excuses in case he is outvoted by Biden.
“Maybe it’s better that he loses the debate,” Trump joked in an interview with Real America’s Voice earlier this month. “I’ll make sure he stays. I’ll lose the debate on purpose, maybe do something like that.”
It’s not just Trump who has spoken highly of Biden. On Sunday, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a leading contender for the vice presidential nomination, praised the president’s experience on the debate stage.
“This guy has ability,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We saw at this year’s State of the Union that when he needs to, he can step up.”
At the same time, Trump and his campaign have stepped up their attacks on the debate moderators, insisting that CNN, which will host the event, will not give the former president a fair hearing. Both campaigns accepted CNN’s invitation after deciding to dispense with the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has organized debates for decades.
“I’ll debate three people instead of half a person,” Trump said at a rally in Racine, Wisconsin, last week.
In a statement, CNN called Jake Tapper and Dana Bash “highly respected veteran journalists” with “extensive experience moderating major political debates.”
“There are no two people better suited to co-moderate a substantive, fact-based debate, and we look forward to the June 27 debate in Atlanta,” the network said in a statement.
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2024-07-04 10:09:18