Biden plots to paint every rival as extreme as Trump
US president wants to tie down all Republican hopefuls to the same Right-wing agenda
JOE BIDEN plans to win in 2024 by painting Republican candidates such as Ron Desantis as just as extreme as Donald Trump, a leaked memo from his campaign manager revealed.
It comes as sources close to Mr Desantis, the Florida governor, said he planned to formally declare his White House bid next week.
The US president believes he can defeat not just Mr Trump, but any Republican presidential candidate, by tying them to a Make America Great Again (Maga) agenda he will warn imperils abortion rights and democracy. The thinking behind Mr Biden’s re-election strategy was laid out by his campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez in a memo to “interested parties” and obtained by Politico, the website.
Mr Biden’s team is confident that the Democrats can hold the Rust Belt states that won him the White House in 2020, but also compete for swing states like North Carolina and even an increasingly Republican-dominated Florida.
Ms Chávez Rodriguez outlined what she believed are “a number of viable pathways to the 270 electoral votes”, the threshold required to retain the president for another four years.
The road to victory, she wrote, was a strategy to “prevail over the MAGA extremist agenda once again”.
Mr Trump remains the frontrunner in the Republican primary race, roughly 30 points ahead of his nearest rival Mr Desantis in a spate of recent polls.
However, the Florida governor’s team expects to see a polling boost when he formally challenges Mr Trump for the party’s nomination. Sources close to Mr Desantis say he intends to declare on May 25, when he will host a major fundraising event in Miami.
He will probably release a video to launch his bid, followed by a campaign blitz of events in the early nominating states, according to The New York Times.
The Florida governor enters the race after ushering in a staunchly conservative policy package for his state, from tougher immigration and abortion laws, to tight controls on discussion of race, gender and orientation in schools. The hardline approach has been designed to shore up Mr Desantis’ support among the conservative Republican base.
However, some policies, in particular the six-week abortion ban Mr Desantis has signed into law, are probably to be used by Democrats should he make it to the general election in 2024.
His abortion stance sets him to the Right of Mr Trump, who has suggested the six-week ban is “too harsh” and declined to suggest his own timeframe for restrictions on the procedure. Mr Biden’s campaign believes these hardline policies present “significant opportunities to grow Democratic support” .
The president’s political advisers have long argued that Mr Biden beat Mr Trump once and can do so again.
If Mr Desantis captures the Republican nomination, Mr Biden’s team maintains the same strategy can work since he has done little to distance themselves from the MAGA movement. They have pointed to Democrats’ surprising success in the 2022 midterm Congressional elections, as well as recent “historic performances” in local elections.
Despite polls showing tepid support for the 80-year-old president, the Biden campaign cited these victories as reason for optimism in 2024.