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Setting debate expectations
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 Setting debate expectations Stephen Collinson CNN After months lampooning President Joe Biden as a cognitively impaired “brain-dead zombie” who can’t finish a sentence or navigate off a stage, former President Donald Trump and his campaign are changing their tune days ahead of the critical debate of the election. The commander in chief has suddenly morphed into a “worthy debater,” someone of considerable ability and a veteran political performer who is not to be underestimated, according to Trump and his lieutenants. The game of pre-debate expectation-setting is often absurd – one aide to former President George W. Bush once claimed that John Kerry, his Democratic opponent in 2004, was a better debater than Roman rhetorician Cicero. But the Trump team’s shift is remarkable given their relentless assault on Biden’s faculties. And it hints at their possible concerns that they’ve set an unnecessarily low bar for the president’s performance ahead of Thursday’s clash hosted by CNN in Atlanta. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a possible Trump vice presidential pick, tried to reset the balance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “The guy’s run for office more than a dozen times. He’s run for president four times. He’s been campaigning since President Nixon was in office,” he said. “This guy has got the ability.” Trump is also hedging against a stronger-than-expected Biden showing by suggesting his opponent will be “jacked up” on drugs to ensure a strong performance. The Biden campaign, meanwhile, is intensifying its new attempt to portray Trump as an “unhinged” criminal who is morally reprobate, out to benefit his rich friends and unfit for a return to the Oval Office. The president’s campaign, which is marking the second anniversary of Roe v. Wade’s reversal this week and making abortion a key election issue, promised in a memo Sunday that the head-to-head would finally show voters the contrast Biden believes will disqualify Trump. “Thursday’s debate will be one of the first moments of this presidential campaign where a larger slice of the American electorate will have the opportunity to witness the stark choice between Joe Biden, who is fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump, who is fighting for himself as a convicted felon with an unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler wrote. |
