President Trump entered the campaign’s two final weeks downplaying the coronavirus and mocking White House pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci even as aides insisted his closing message against Democratic nominee Joe Biden was focused on the economy and seniors.
Trump said Monday during a conference call with campaign staff that reporters were invited to listen to that people are “tired” of the coronavirus, adding, “People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.” The president repeated similar lines later in the day on Twitter and during a campaign rally in Arizona, a battleground he won four years ago but where Biden leads on the strength of support in suburban Phoenix.
To boost Trump’s flagging support with seniors, his campaign, in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, announced a new television spot for Michigan, another swing state where the president trails, targeting seniors on healthcare. A Trump confidant conceded the president might not follow the plan.
“The campaign’s message and the president’s message don’t necessarily” match up, this Republican operative said. “Sometimes, the president sticks to the script — but he riffs a bunch.”
Nevertheless, Trump’s riffing earned him the White House in 2016.
Biden leads Trump by 8.9 percentage points nationally in the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls. The former vice president holds a smaller lead of 4.1 points in the competitive battleground states.
Republican insiders, including those counseling the Trump campaign, want the president to concentrate on his plans for rebuilding the economy during the final 14 days of the race while differentiating his agenda from Biden’s “socialism.” The issue is a priority with voters, and they still give Trump high marks for his handling of the economy despite a pandemic-induced recession. But Trump has other ideas.
He continues to diminish the seriousness of the coronavirus. The president also is trying to tear down Biden by raising revelations of his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Some Republican operatives monitoring polling for GOP congressional candidates say neither message is having the desired effect.
Ridiculing “Fauci, who has more credibility than any politician on managing the pandemic, is wholly unhelpful and counterproductive,” one GOP strategist said. “Talking about the economy would be a good move, but you can’t expect voters to follow you if you’re dismissing their No. 1 concern, COVID, to get there.”
Marc Thiessen, a fellow at the conservative Washington think tank American Enterprise Institute who is supportive of Trump, urged him to drop the Hunter Biden story. In an appearance on Fox News, Thiessen said the issue was a political loser with voters. “They don’t care about Hunter Biden,” he said. “They care about the economy and about not having four more years of chaos.”
In a statement emailed to the Washington Examiner, the Trump campaign said the president was an outsider running against a 47-year veteran of the Washington establishment who is lying about his family’s corruption.
“The President has an optimistic vision for our future that includes a roaring, post-COVID economy where everyone can achieve their version of the American Dream,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Samantha Zager said. “He’ll contrast that with Joe Biden’s decades of failure and his refusal to give voters answers on everything from his socialist agenda to his lies about his family’s corruption during his vice presidency.”
Four years ago, amid Trump’s bluster and showmanship, his campaign was remarkably disciplined down the stretch. He toned down his rhetoric in the closing days of his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton and focused on a domestic and foreign policy agenda that appealed to swing voters. This year, the president has provided fewer details about a second term, and in interviews and during rallies, seems more interested in revving up his base.
As Election Day closes in, the overarching message from the Trump campaign is that polling is wrong and the president is headed to a bigger victory than 2016. As some Republican insiders have voiced more concerns about a Trump loss and the prospect he might drag the party’s Senate majority, and more House seats, down with him, Trump and his campaign have used an increasing amount of airtime to push back.
During a conference call Monday, the Trump campaign touted early voting statistics in battleground states, GOP voter registration gains, and the RNC ground game as indicators that another upset is in the offing. “We are as confident as ever on our pathway to victory,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said.
