Biden made those comments during a private call with donors last week as the Democrat struggled to shore up his imperiled candidacy in key party constituencies.
During that conversation, Biden declared that he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and that it was “time to put Trump on the spot,” saying that Trump has received very little scrutiny over his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
Biden insisted that “very little attention was paid to Trump’s agenda,” telling NBC host Lester Holt that while he acknowledged his “mistake,” he was nonetheless “not the guy who said he wanted to be a dictator on Day 1” and that he wanted the focus to be on what Trump was saying. It’s Trump, not Biden, who is using that kind of rhetoric, Biden said, referring to Trump’s past comments about a “bloodbath” if the Republican loses to Biden in November.
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden asked. “You don’t say anything because you might incite someone?”
Biden said he was unsure whether the shooting would change the trajectory of the November presidential election or not.
“I don’t know and you don’t know either,” he said.
“He’s a clone of Trump on those issues,” Biden told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base before leaving for Nevada for a series of speeches and campaign events. “I don’t see any difference.”
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Trump rally shooting: Biden orders security review, FBI believes shooter acted alone
Trump rally shooting: Biden orders security review, FBI believes shooter acted alone
Biden’s campaign recalibrated some of its political plans in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s assassination attempt, pulling advertising off the air and putting messaging on pause. The White House also canceled Biden’s planned visit Monday to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, where he was expected to deliver remarks on civil rights.
It has not yet been decided when Biden’s campaign ads will resume.
Hours before the NBC interview, his campaign issued a strongly worded statement on Trump’s choice of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, saying he picked the senator because he would “do everything in his power to support Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.”
“For the next three and a half months, we will spend every day standing up for the two starkly contrasting visions that Americans will choose between at the ballot box this November,” said Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon.
Biden has acknowledged that his candidacy and agenda will come under attack at this week’s Republican National Convention, and his advisers don’t feel the need to put his campaign on full pause while Biden comes under scrutiny in Milwaukee. But they will proceed with caution in the wake of the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Biden’s resumption of the campaign this week comes at a time when Democrats have been at a stalemate over whether the incumbent president should continue in the race, even as he has been defiant that he would remain in it. Biden has made it clear in no uncertain terms that he is still in the race, and his advisers have been operating accordingly.
It was unclear whether the assassination attempt on Trump would weaken Democratic efforts to urge Biden to step aside, but it appears to have slowed some of the momentum — for now. No Democrats have called for Biden to drop out of the race since Saturday’s shooting.
In the hours before the shooting, Biden was still facing frustration and skepticism from Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Jared Huffman of California said he asked the president during his meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus about his objective assessment of the trajectory of the race.
Huffman said in a social media post that Biden “disagreed with the idea that we are on a losing trajectory.”
And while Biden expressed a “willingness to listen” to other voices, Huffman said she doubted any would be persuasive.
Several Democrats who requested anonymity were skeptical that there was enough momentum among lawmakers to successfully try to pressure Biden not to run.
Many in the Democratic Party had been waiting for congressional leaders to voice their concerns directly to the president.
There were still deep concerns that Biden was not up to the job and a sense that pressure to try to find another nominee could ramp up again when lawmakers return to Washington. Congressional Democrats were watching the Republican National Convention and Biden’s appearances this week with an awareness that the dynamic could shift — again.
