Donald Trump is crowing about his lead over Joe Biden. But what if he ends up facing another candidate and has to scramble to find new lines of attack (and another childish nickname for his new opponent)?
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There are a few things Donald Trump loves as much as he loves himself: People saying nice things about him, favorable polls, positive news about him, lying, one of his children, and golf.
Most of these interests are reflected in his social media posts, and Wednesday was no different.
The former president blasted out a bunch of polls on Truth Social that showed him with large leads over Joe Biden in several swing states, as well as narrow leads in others that were supposed to end up in the blue column, like Virginia.
Yesterday, Trump touted his fundraising edge over the past three months, and since Thursday night, he has been telling his followers that he delivered the greatest performance in the history of presidential debates.
Of course, that’s a bit of a stretch. In order to beat Biden, he only had to show up, not be fact-checked, and speak somewhat coherently… all of which he admittedly did.
There may just be one slight problem for Trump, as well as his allies in the GOP and on Fox News, who parroted whatever the former president was saying: What if he doesn’t end up facing Biden?
Then all these things won’t matter.
In fact, in light of the president’s apparent weakness (both political and physical) and increasing calls that he should drop out of the race to give another Democrat a chance, Trump and the GOP should be doing the opposite of what they are doing now.
Instead of piling on, they should talk up Biden to ensure that they will face a highly unpopular incumbent and not somebody else.
That is Trump’s best path to victory… unless the president manages to magically “un-age” himself by a couple of decades in the next week or so. That won’t happen, of course, because “un-age” isn’t even a word and we had to make it up to get the point across.
If they were smart, hordes of Republicans would show up on Fox News right now and defend Biden.
“He is still a formidable opponent, and let’s not forget that he had a cold last week.”
“Let’s not forget that this is the only Democrat who has ever beaten Donald Trump.”
“Wow, he raised $264 million in three months? That is amazing. How does the president keep doing it?”
“Obviously, we’d rather be ahead than behind in the polls, but things can turn around so quickly in politics.”
“Hey guys, let’s not forget that Joe Biden is the only man in the country right now who has total immunity. So, who knows what this crafty genius will come up with next.”
Hilariously, they won’t do any of these things because Republicans and Fox News will always follow Trump’s lead… and the former president is too self-obsessed to realize that keeping Biden in the race by making him look like a capable opponent is a winning strategy.
Instead, with every poll that shows the former president extending his lead, the urgency among Democrats will increase, and the likelihood increases that Biden will do the right thing.
In that case, all of a sudden, they will face a candidate who will almost certainly not be as unpopular as Trump, and the GOP’s enthusiasm edge will evaporate.
And, while the Democrats’ lines of attack won’t change (since their candidate will still be running against a narcissistic felon), Trump and his allies will first have to recalibrate their own.
