Amid Democratic questions over whether President Biden should or will remain the party’s presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump has remained silent on the issue publicly.
Mr. Trump, rarely shy about expressing his opinion, has not been silent since last week’s debate, giving several radio interviews and continuing to post and video on his social media platform, Truth Social. But Mr. Trump has largely sat back and allowed the Democratic Party to dominate the debate over Mr. Biden’s political future, a sign of his favored adversary.
After months of attacking Mr. Biden as physically and mentally too weak to lead the country, the former president has been content to let Democratic news coverage cast doubt on the party’s leadership, according to two advisers who spoke about the condition. from anonymous to discuss strategy.
The lack of public comment on the issue also reflects Mr. Biden’s desire to stay in the race and his belief that he can easily defeat the president in November, one adviser said.
A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted after the debate and released on Wednesday suggests that some Republican voters agree: 28 percent of them said Mr. Biden should remain the Democratic nominee, up from 21 percent in the previous poll. done before. debate.
On Monday, Mr. Trump publicly rejected the idea that the president would be replaced on the Democratic ticket.
“If you listen to the professionals who have done this, they say it’s very difficult for other people to come into the race,” Mr Trump said in an interview with John Reid, a talk radio host in Virginia.
And in the tone of a talking point that Mr. Biden’s Democratic allies have long used to argue that he is in the best position to defeat the former president, Mr. Trump also said that polls show that “Biden is doing better than them. talking about using it to replace him.
Days after the debate, he argued at a rally in Virginia that Mr Biden polled better in a head-to-head matchup against him than Vice President Kamala Harris, who he said he would be “very happy” to run against, or Michelle Obama, the former first lady. first.
Two polls released on Tuesday somewhat undermined that claim: A CNN poll found that Ms. Harris polled two percentage points ahead of Mr. Biden in a hypothetical contest against Mr. Trump, though he still beat him. And an Ipsos/Reuters poll found that Mrs. Obama — a long-shot potential choice for Democrats because she has repeatedly said she has no interest in running — beat Mr. Trump, 50 percent to 39 percent, in a hypothetical matchup.
If Mr. Biden steps aside, Mr. Trump will lose two lines of attack that have been central to his campaign. He has for years attacked Mr. Biden as “sleepy,” posted videos of Mr. Biden stumbling, mocked his speeches and performed cartoon impersonations of him, attacks he could not easily level against other opponents.
And in recent months, Mr. Trump has tried to appeal to undecided voters by directly comparing his tenure with Mr. Biden’s, often in misleading terms. That message will be disrupted if another candidate replaces Mr. Biden on the ticket.
New opponents can open up new political challenges. Mr. Trump can face a young opponent who can appeal to Voters worried about the age of the two candidates and looking for a fresh alternative to the two people who have each taken the future of the White House.
“I don’t think anyone in the Trump campaign has ever said they want Biden off the ticket,” said Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s longtime adviser to the Republican Party’s nominating convention. He added that the matchup was “two candidates who are very well known to Americans and who have great records. to compare is one of our favorite things.”
The Heritage Foundation, a major conservative group, has also explored possible legal challenges that would make it difficult to replace Mr. Biden in elections in some states if he resigns.
Mike Howell, executive director of Heritage’s Oversight Project, said the group is looking to key battleground states like Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin where legislation could make it difficult to vote for a different Democrat.
In a statement on Wednesday, two of Mr Trump’s campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, expressed confidence that Mr Trump could “beat the Democrats” in November. He accused Democrats of now turning on Mr. Biden as a hypocrite, saying that “everyone has lied about Joe Biden’s cognitive state and supported his dangerous policies for the last four years.”
There are signs that some in Mr. Trump’s orbit are preparing more seriously for a possible, however remote, showdown with another Democratic candidate this fall. Trump’s campaign and Republican allies have ramped up their attacks on Ms. Harris, who has long been a target from the right.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager called her “Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris,” both mocking her behavior and directly linking her to Mr. Biden’s policies. During the debate, the campaign ran ads suggesting that Mr. Biden could not lead the country for a second term and warned that Ms. Harris is waiting in the wings to take over.
On Tuesday morning, Make America Great Again Inc., a leading super PAC supporting Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, posted a list of attacks on Ms. Harris means he won’t do better than Mr. Biden, especially on immigration, an issue Mr. Trump has made central to his campaign.
Wednesday, the campaign committee for House Republicans announced a new digital ad which links Ms. Harris to Mr. Biden’s border policy. “Voice of the Republic. Stop Kamala,” the title card at the back of the ad read.
“Every good campaign looks at every possible contingency,” Mr. Lewandowski said. “The strategy of the campaign has not changed, but it will be a task that we are not prepared for if Joe Biden drops out of the race.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and a close Trump ally, issued various warnings on social media about how the 2024 race could change if Ms. Harris was nominated.
“I believe the Trump Campaign realizes the 2024 race could very quickly shift from Biden’s ability to a battle for the heart and soul of the country,” Mr. Graham wrote in X.
And if that scenario plays out, Mr. Graham added, Republicans must “build President Trump’s ability to expand our party’s demographic reach in 2024.”