Biden's latest campaign strategy: Get under Trump's skin

The president is increasingly turning to personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his 2024 Republican opponent.

As President Joe Biden works to defeat Donald Trump, he’s increasingly focused on another goal he thinks will help him achieve that: getting under his skin.

In recent weeks, both in private and public settings, Biden has ramped up personal, biting and often sarcastic broadsides against his Republican opponent, targeting his financial challenges, his campaign tempo and even his weight.

It’s a strategy largely driven by Biden himself, according to multiple aides and advisers familiar with the approach.

dragontangram88,
@dragontangram88@lemmy.world avatar

I wish he would spend more time focusing on policies that are good for Americans, and discussing his plans for addressing foreign conflicts. It just seems so immature that both candidates are wasting time and money by attacking one another. We have wars in foreign countries that are going to affect us. Carbon emissions are still too high from power plants and shipping companies in foreign countries. We have a homelessness problem while apartments and houses sit vacant. We could be discussing basic income to keep people housed and help them pay their bills, or other basic living expenses. Instead of doing his job, he’s picking school yard fights with someone who has the mentality of a school aged child.

FenrirIII,
@FenrirIII@lemmy.world avatar

Biden could promise the moon, but the Republicans and conservatives will still thumb their nose at him. Undermining Trump, making him look weak, and keeping him angry is the best way to make him screw up and alienate conservatives who are on the fence.

bumphot,

It’s not immature, it is their calculated tactic so that you have to vote for people that broadly represent almost identical politics. They don’t wont to promise any good things, just promise that they will not be as bad as the other candidate and then they are free to do whatever they want. This is why Democrats got Trump as a Republican candidate. source

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

aw yeh, make this election all about Trump.

affiliate,

to be fair i think his main selling point for most people is simply that he’s not trump

(and this is a very important quality to have in a president, just to be clear)

blazera,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

It’s an important quality as president. It’s a self sabotaging quality as a presidential candidate.

bumphot,

That is why democrats got Trump elected in the first place with their pied piper strategy. Just so they can still destroy the planet and threaten us that if we don’t vote for them, Trump will win. They are holding the whole US hostage as terrorists.

njm1314,

It could work for those that pay close attention sure. Those that actually listen to the things Trump says and how he responds to things, sure. But those people probably aren’t voting for Trump anyway. People that are voting for him don’t pay that close attention. They’re not actually listening to the full speeches they’re just listen to the clips they want to see on Facebook. They’re not reading about the campaign promises and the platforms, they’re just listening to talk radio and looking at memes. So while I like this strategy, I’m not sure it’ll do much.

Kase,

I don’t disagree, but is there anything Biden could do that would matter to people who aren’t watching?

doc,

Last time around part of Trump's strategy was to dominate the news cycle with a never ending torrent of outlandish statements and behavior. Free advertising. And of course he's going to do it again because his fundraising is much less than Biden's at this point. And he probably can't help himself as that's all he knows how to do and it works on his base.

One could argue that it's a wise idea to co-opt that free campaign exposure by joining in instead of fighting back or fact checking or correcting the record like they had in the past.

dylanmorgan,

Unless he means with a filet knife I’m not impressed.

paultimate14,

There’s a large swath of what Gene Wilder might call “the common clay of the new west” who vote purely on who can appear to be the toughest. It’s like some pack behavior of exerting dominance that you’d see in animals.

Uneducated, usually rural people who like Trump because “he tells it like it is” or “he’s a boss who knows how to lead”, when in reality he just constantly makes shit up and runs his businesses into the ground.

I think these people will see Biden’s remarks and Trump getting upset at them and view it as a sign that Biden is “tougher” than Trump. Which is dumb, but if it means a more progressive government and avoiding the regression under Trunk I’ll take it.

Wrench,

Maybe. But the right is full of wannabe macho personas, so it’s more likely that the voters that value that are deeply indoctrinated in right wing propaganda. I doubt Biden dumping on Trump would sway that.

I do think that revolving into petty name calling with “catchy” nicknames like “Broke Don” may be effective for similar reasons, though. I don’t think it’s about toughness, it’s about drama. An unfortunately large portion of American voters are just interested in the theatrics. That’s why a shitty reality TV host gained traction in the first place.

The daily show / late night show should lend the Biden campaign some writers. Tone and delivery aren’t Bidens strengths, but I’m sure they could come up with some nicknames and catchphrases that are better than “Broke Don” that he could put to use.

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Super thin, really easy to get under it. :)

xmunk,

Some people say it’s the thinnest skin ever - we only use the greatest skin.

sndmn,

Wouldn’t getting under his skin cause his makeup to crack?

Fapper_McFapper,

Car fillers, like Bondo, are sturdier than you think.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3529388f-5e64-4cdf-9ec0-1712e403fa17.jpeg?format=jpg

Ensign_Crab,

His campaign strategy is… wrestling a pig?

ashok36,

More like fighting a bull. If the bull was fat and stupid and ugly.

Ole!

Telodzrum,

It’ll be fun to watch. I guess we’ll have to wait to see how good a strategy it is, though.

Today,

This. It’s cheesy and dumb and not exactly presidential, but easily blamed on some low-level staffer and fun to watch.

dojan,
@dojan@lemmy.world avatar

The bar for presidential behaviour is long since dead and buried.

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