It’s Biden vs Trump in race for White House
ATLANTA — The stage is set for November. Barring unforeseen disaster, Joe Biden will represent the Democratic Party against US President Donald Trump this fall, the former vice-president’s place on the general election ballot cemented by Bernie Sanders’ decision to end his campaign.
Biden likely won’t secure the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination until June. But without any Democratic rivals left, a general election campaign that will almost certainly be the most expensive and among the nastiest in US history is underway.
“It won’t be easy. Nobody’s confused about that. But we are ready for the general election. We are ready for our standard-bearer,” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said. “I’m confident because Joe Biden’s values reflect the values of the majority of the American people that we can win.”
Trump’s campaign is moving forward with a multipronged attack that mixes legitimate criticism with baseless charges and, in some cases, outright conspiracy theories. It’s similar to the unconventional playbook Trump used against Hillary Clinton four years ago with unexpectedly devastating success.
Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said Biden will be portrayed as too liberal for most Americans, weighed down by questions about his son’s overseas business dealings and about questionable mental acuity at his age. Brad Parscale, Trump’s campaign manager, predicted Trump would “destroy” Biden, whom the president and his allies have nicknamed “Sleepy Joe.”
“President Trump is still disrupting Washington, D.C., while Biden represents the old, tired way and continuing to coddle the communist regime in China,” Parscale said.
Trump’s team also believes he can win over disaffected Sanders supporters who see Biden as a consummate insider. Shortly after Sanders’ announcement on Wednesday, the president charged without evidence that Democratic leaders were plotting against Sanders.
The Republican National Committee has already assembled an extensive research book on Biden. The GOP has devoted 10 researchers to Biden and sent hundreds of Biden-related freedom of information and public records requests to gather additional damaging material.
Before Biden can shift his entire focus to Trump, the former vice-president is tasked with winning over Sanders’ sceptical farleft supporters, who have trashed Biden’s record on trade, criminal justice, corporate America and foreign policy. The party’s most progressive wing also fears that Biden’s policies on healthcare and the environment, among others, don’t go far enough.
For example, Biden supports universal healthcare, but unlike Sanders, he would preserve the private insurance system and offer Americans a government-backed “public option” instead of Sanders’ signature ‘Medicare for All’.
Biden advisers note that he had already begun reaching out to Sanders’ aligned progressive organisations, including those focused on young people like the Sunrise Movement and the March For Our Lives. —