Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Analysis: Biden’s wins threaten Trump.
NEW YORK — With eight months until Election Day, President Donald Trump is having a bad week.
Despite Trump’s concerted efforts to paint Joe Biden as corrupt — an attempt that led directly to his own impeachment — the former vice president pulled off one of the most remarkable political comebacks in recent history Tuesday, reemerging as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination and Trump’s opponent in November.
The stock markets tumbled again Tuesday amid fears about the ongoing spread of the coronavirus around the world, and by midmorning Wednesday, yet another case of the virus was confirmed in New York.
But futures markets bounced up Wednesday with the news of Biden’s victories, after he won states across the South and Midwest by large margins and dealt a serious blow to the prospects of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
For Trump, whose belief in his own ability to shape external events is a source of comfort, it means now confronting a moment when almost nothing is in his control.
He has dealt with the coronavirus, the first external crisis of his administration, by repeating a string of falsehoods rather than delivering reassurance. And his insistence that his administration deserves an “A+++” for its response has done little to calm the rattled markets or an anxious electorate.
Biden even won the primary in Texas, a state that several Trump advisers saw as a bellwether given the makeup of its electorate.
Trump’s aides said they are now preparing for a scorched-earth campaign against Biden in the coming months, even as voters Tuesday appeared to favor a candidate who projected calm stability over upheaval and uncertainty.
A sign of Trump’s frustration was evident in one of his morning tweets Wednesday — a screed against Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general who was forced into a runoff Tuesday night for his old Senate seat in Alabama, and whom Trump still blames for the two-year probe into possible conspiracy between the president’s 2016 campaign and Russian officials.
“This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt. Recuses himself on FIRST DAY in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!” Trump posted on Twitter, after Sessions fell short of securing a majority in the Republican primary in the Senate race.
For months, Trump has told aides he believes he can shape the Democratic race to his own advantage by focusing on specific candidates. And he has been more overt than any incumbent in trying to influence the nominating contest of another party, training his Twitter feed on his potential rivals and trying to deepen authentic divisions in the Democratic Party by stoking fears that the establishment was trying to rob Sanders of the nomination.
He floated the idea in January that the Senate impeachment trial was designed to keep Sanders grounded in Washington instead of campaigning in Iowa ahead of the caucuses there.
That month, Trump aides also began to see Sanders as their ideal Democratic opponent in November and sought to elevate his profile.
Another target was Michael Bloomberg, a longtime rival from New York who had no compunction contrasting his wealth with Trump’s.
Bloomberg’s withdrawal from the race Wednesday may provide Trump with a small measure of comfort. But it also presents a challenge for his campaign, as Bloomberg has promised to spend $1 billion to help the Democratic nominee and threw his support to Biden.
But Bloomberg was not the main concern of Trump and his advisers. For months, they fanned the flames about Biden’s younger son, Hunter, and his work for Burisma, an energy company in Ukraine. That effort was central to the impeachment inquiry into whether Trump tried to pressure Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens in exchange for releasing military aid.
The damage to Trump was obvious, but the former vice president’s candidacy also suffered in the process.
But the revival of Biden — who was buoyed by black voters, a core Democratic Party constituency, in several states — illustrates the limits of Trump’s influence.
“I think Democratic primary voters are numbing to Trump’s buffoonery — black voters in particular,” said Addisu Demissie, who managed Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign. “They are the ones who have breathed life back into Biden’s campaign and, if anything, they may relish seeing Biden take him down.”