As of a few weeks ago, Donald Trump was feeling quite good about the state of the 2024 presidential race. The former president was ahead in the polls; Democrats were divided; President Joe Biden was struggling; and much of the national analysis was about the expanding electoral map, as traditional “blue” states started to appear more competitive.
The Republican had reason to be pleased: He was winning. Indeed, Trump’s assumptions about his inevitable victory contributed to his decision to pick an unpopular far-right running mate: As the GOP nominee saw it, he could get away with adding Sen. JD Vance to the ticket — as opposed to a qualified candidate with broader electoral appeal — because the race was effectively over.
That is, until it wasn’t.
Biden’s decision to pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris has done exactly what many Democrats expected: It overhauled the 2024 contest and put the party in a better position to win. The shift has made Trump increasingly hysterical.
“This is what you would call a public nervous breakdown,” Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and former Trump administration appointee, told Politico this week. “This is a guy who cut through the Republican primary like a knife through butter. This is a guy who pummeled a semi-conscious president in a debate and literally out of a race. And now this is a guy who cannot come to grips with a competitive presidential race that would require discipline and effective messaging. And we’re seeing a candidate and a campaign absolutely melt down.”
In fact, it’s reached the point at which Trump seems to be trying to coax Biden to re-enter the race and return things to how they were when the former president was still happy.
Within a few hours of Harris adding Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to the Democratic ticket, the Republican claimed by way of his social media platform, “I HEAR THERE IS A BIG MOVEMENT TO ‘BRING BACK CROOKED JOE.’”
For those who pay close attention to Trump’s rhetoric, “I hear” is one of those things he says when he’s making stuff up. It’s effectively the same thing as manufactured anecdotes about big guys crying while calling him, “Sir.”
About a half-hour later, the GOP candidate nevertheless published a follow-up item, pondering the possibility that Biden might “crash” the Democratic National Convention in order to “take back the Nomination.” Trump added:
“He feels that he made a historically tragic mistake by handing over the U.S. Presidency, a COUP, to the people in the World he most hates, and he wants it back, NOW!!!”
So, a few things.
First, if anyone should avoid references to “coups,” it’s Trump.
Second, the idea that Trump is privy to Biden’s private thoughts is kind of hilarious.
Third, there is literally no reason to believe the incumbent president, who’s already endorsed Harris, has any interest in reversing his retirement decision, and the vice president has already secured the party’s 2024 nomination.
But let’s not miss the forest for the trees: To get a sense of the Republican’s current assessment of the 2024 race, look no further than his silly efforts to get Biden to jump back into the contest, and put things back the way they were when he was still happy.
A confident candidate, optimistic about the campaign’s direction, wouldn’t push such obvious nonsense. A panicking candidate, however, would.
New York’s Jon Chait added, “Many of Trump’s strange public utterances have some animalistic logic to them. Whatever their lack of connection to truth, he displays dominance or caters to the desires of his audience. Here Trump is doing neither. He is fantasizing that the opponent currently tormenting him, and whom he is afraid to debate, will somehow disappear and the opponent he was defeating will somehow return.”
Quite right. Whenever he’s in a jam with no obvious solution, one of Trump’s instincts is to look for someone who can make his problem go away. In this instance, he’s settled on, of all people, Biden.
It’s rare to see such a pitiful display of desperation.
