Former President Donald Trump is intensifying his critique of President Biden, marking a significant shift in his campaign strategy away from the Republican primaries and towards the forthcoming general election.
At a recent rally held in South Dakota, Trump directed his focus predominantly at Biden, referencing the current president nearly 60 times. This stands in stark contrast to his mentions of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his closest rival in the Republican primary, whom he referenced only twice during the same event.
Using the nickname “Crooked Joe,” Trump characterized Biden as a Manchurian candidate and accused him of heading a crime family that is allegedly exploiting the middle class. Trump asserted, “They’re just destroying our country, and if we don’t take it back — if we don’t take it back in ’24, I really believe we’re not going to have a country left.” When addressing his Republican primary rivals, Trump primarily highlighted his substantial lead in political polls. He referred to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida as an “unskilled politician” who had “sided with the communists in China.” However, he refrained from delving deeply into the GOP primary race.
Hogan Gidley, a former White House spokesperson who maintains regular communication with Trump, explained, “Donald Trump is up over his Republican opponents by anywhere from 40 to 50 points. He doesn’t need to talk about any of them.” Gidley emphasized that the primary focus should remain on Joe Biden, whom Republicans aim to unseat.
Trump’s strategic shift is not limited to his rhetoric; it also encompasses changes in his advertising strategy. After allocating substantial resources to attack ads against DeSantis earlier in the year, Trump’s campaign and Super PAC have significantly curtailed their spending on such ads. Instead, they have redirected their financial resources towards ads targeting Biden. According to AdImpact, a firm that tracks ad spending, these Biden-focused ads have garnered more than $1 million in expenditures, beginning in August.
This shift signifies a transition from concentrating on the primary race to preparing for a potential rematch of the 2020 election, which Trump seems to perceive as his most significant competition. As for the increasingly aggressive attacks on Biden, Republican strategist Alex Conant suggests that they serve multiple purposes. They are a means for Trump to secure media attention and, concurrently, an avenue to test various narratives and messaging to gauge their resonance with voters.
Conant observed, “Donald Trump lost in 2020 in part because he never found a good attack line against Joe Biden. I think he’s going to road test everything under the sun in hopes of finding a punch that can land before the general election next year.”
