This was the most brutal message the Biden campaign has posted about Trump
President Joe Biden and his campaign have been getting more aggressive in their attacks on Donald Trump but few of these verbal assaults have been as brutal as the message Biden's campaign staff posted about Trump in response to a hissy fit the former president threw for the media at the outset of his hush money trial.
The former president found himself in a lot of trouble over the last weeks that had led up to awkward outbursts, and at the time it looked as if Biden’s team was starting to use Trump’s growing problems—and his irrational responses to them—to their own advantage.
Biden’s team didn’t hold back in mid-March when they “lobbed attacks on his war chest after his campaign finance numbers showed him lagging,” wrote The Hill journalist Alex Gangitano in an article at the time on the situation.
Biden himself had even gotten in on the action, telling a crowd at a campaign event in Dallas on March 20th that “a defeated man” approached him the other day, complaining all about the money problems he was experiencing.
“Mr. President, I have crushing debt, and I’m completely wiped out,” Biden claimed that the man said, going on to add that he replied: “Donald, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” That comment earned Biden a healthy laugh.
While Biden’s remarks about Trump may have seemed like normal political jostling at the time, they may have actually been the testing of a new strategy against Trump from Biden and his campaign, one aimed at attacking the former president with a taste of his own medicine.
Biden’s new strategy wasn't officially acknowledged by anyone in his campaign at that time. But it was clear from recent messaging that something had changed with how Biden and his team were dealing with the former president in public.
On March 25th, Biden’s campaign went after Trump in an unusually vicious way after a wild and compelling press conference following a tough fight with Judge Juan Merchan, rejected Trump’s request to delay his criminal hush money trial.
Rolling Stone reported that Trump was “livid at the ruling” and that feeling came across while he was talking to the press. “This is a pure case of voter intimidation and election interference, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Trump explained.
“They decided to wait until now, just during the election,” Trump added, “so that I won’t be able to campaign. I will be appealing this.” It was likely the former president’s complaints were what spurred such a vicious response from Biden’s campaign team.
Shortly after Trump’s remarks, Biden’s team posted a mean response on Twitter to the former president’s press conference. "Donald Trump is weak and desperate - both as a man and a candidate for President,” the statement began.
Photo Credit: Twitter @BidenHQ
“He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn't have” the statement added, and yes he really did compare himself to Jesus, reposting a message equating their persecutions on Social Media during Holy Week.
“His campaign can't raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda,” Biden’s team continued.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump,” the attack was vicious but the strategy behind why Biden’s team attacked Trump personally rather than his legal woes might have a lot to do with their attempts to change the perception of the former president's image.
Former Biden White House spokesperson Alexandra LaManna told to The Hill at the time that the former president was nothing without his brand, so attacking Trump’s wealth and other aspects of his image could help dispel the story surrounding him,
“The campaign is reminding voters that it’s a facade, and that he is actually having a hard time with money: he owes a ton of money in a fraud case, and he’s struggling to raise money from the donors paying his legal bills,” LaManna explained.
Whether or not such a strategy would work still has yet to be seen more than two months on, but it is clear Biden and his team have continued the strategy since the verbal attacks from Biden's campaign and himself on Trump have only continued.