Trump ups gears for Joe smear

WASHINGTON: Democratic US presidential hopeful Joe Biden will be portrayed as the ultimate Washington insider who “decimated working families and betrayed black Americans”, according to a blueprint for President Donald Trump’s re-election strategy outlined by his campaign manager.

Brad Parscale claimed Mr Biden, 77, had generated none of the enthusiasm shown by Mr Trump’s supporters and had a long record of “terrible policy decisions” that would be hammered home to voters before the November election.

Mr Biden is comfortably ahead of Mr Trump in recent opinion polls, following the President’s perceived mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and missteps during the Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd’s death in police custody.

Mr Trump, 74, was buoyed on Thursday by better-thanexpected job figures, claiming the only thing that could reverse the recovering economy was “a bad president or a president who wants to raise taxes” as curbs are imposed in some states due to surging infections.

Despite a lead of 12 points for Mr Biden in the latest opinion poll, conducted by Monmouth University, Mr

Parscale claimed Mr Trump was ahead where it mattered.

“When it comes to the most important factor, enthusiasm, President Trump is dominating,” he wrote in The Washington Post. “The unprecedented enthusiasm behind the President’s re-election efforts stands in stark contrast to the flat, almost non-existent enthusiasm for Biden.”

Mr Parscale is credited with helping Mr Trump win key states in 2016 by targeting advertising and social media messages at selected voters.

He also insisted that after four years in office, Mr Trump “remains the political outsider” against Mr Biden.