Republicans believe President Trump caught a major break on the eve of the GOP convention with Joe Biden’s comments that he would be willing to reimpose an economic lockdown if scientists told him it was needed to neutralize the coronavirus.
The Democratic nominee told ABC News he would do whatever is necessary to defeat the coronavirus, emphasizing that reviving an economy stricken by recession and returning American life to normal depends upon arresting the pandemic. Despite that context, Republican strategists believe Biden extended a lifeline to Trump, arguing that voters worried about the economy and exhausted by pandemic restrictions will recoil at Biden’s consideration of another shutdown.
Trump is attempting to come from behind against the former vice president, who leads nationally and in key battleground states as the GOP convention begins.
“I have to stop everything and start writing ads against Democrats with ‘I would shut it down,’” Republican media consultant Brad Todd said Friday evening, soon after a clip of Biden’s interview aired. “This is the biggest break of the year for Republicans in this campaign year.”
Trump noticed Biden’s remarks as well, suggesting the Democratic nominee’s position could become a subtheme of this week’s four-day celebration of the president’s renomination. Trump tweeted, “Despite biggest ever job gains and a V shaped recovery, Joe Biden said, ‘I would shut it down,’ referring to our Country. He has no clue!”
“I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this administration’s thinking to begin with,” Biden said on ABC during his first joint interview with his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris. Asked if he would consider scientists’ recommendations to “shut it down,” Biden said, “I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.”
Following the recommendations of his administration’s medical advisers, Trump urged a shutdown of the nation’s economy in mid-March to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In remarks to Republican delegates Monday in Charlotte, the president credited the policy with saving millions of lives. But since early May, Trump has urged state and local governments to lift restrictions on economic activities and focus on resuscitating the economy, often saying that the pandemic would soon “disappear.”
Paired with his strong support for opening the public schools for on-campus and in-person instruction to relieve parents frustrated by distance learning, the president is convinced this message is a political winner. The approach has yet to boost support for Trump’s management of the coronavirus or improve his reelection prospects, especially after a summer that saw COVID-19 resurgent across the Sunbelt and in states such as California.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
