Tom Rogers, the founder of MSNBC and CNBC, said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was not ready for a general election clash with President Trump.
Rogers, who is now an editor-at-large for Newsweek, made the argument about the general election during a Monday appearance on Morning Joe. The interview focused on a column he wrote.
“Well, Trump has been dominating the media as we all know, and Biden has not been in the spotlight. But that’s going to shift. And when it shifts, Biden needs to perform,” he said.
“The bottom line is the candidate needs to be able to articulate a clear and convincing message, and particularly when it comes to the pandemic, what my piece says is, he’s not there yet,” Rogers continued. “And pains me to say this, it really does, but his performance in being able to come up with a compelling narrative and a passionate storyline that really is ready for prime-time election season when it comes to talking about the legacy of Donald Trump, of mass death and economic collapse, he’s just not there yet.”
He went on to call Biden’s performance in the primary process so far “very unsatisfying” and faulted the former vice president for sticking to mostly “softball interviews.”
In his column, Rogers said Trump was dominating the media landscape with frequent press conferences, although he argued that they might actually be helping Biden based on the president’s performance.
“First, Trump has not been able to use the briefings to showcase capable leadership through this health and economic crisis. Instead, the American people have watched him blame governors, criticize the press and release substantial misinformation,” he wrote, before noting Biden will need to step up eventually.
“Letting Trump continue to devalue his own political standing has been beneficial to Biden at a time when Biden’s own media appearances from home have unfortunately shown a worrisome inability to focus his message and articulate clearly and crisply,” Rogers added. “As we move toward Election Day, Biden will no longer be able to let Trump do the talking. He will have to come out and present the case against Trump himself, as well as his vision for the future.”
