Former President Donald Trump's associates are fearful that they have been set up to fail at this week's presidential debate in Atlanta, writes Gabriel Sherman for Vanity Fair.
This comes as his allies have frantically pushed the idea, with no evidence, that President Joe Biden will come onto the debate stage jacked on drugs in order to cover his lack of energy — an indication that many are fearful that the narrative they have built over the last year of Biden being cognitively infirm will backfire as he outperforms the low expectations they set for him.
"That’s why, in recent days, Trump and his aides have been working overtime to mitigate the damage should Biden deliver a commanding performance similar to his fiery State of the Union address," wrote Sherman. "The Trump campaign’s first tactic is the most Trumpian: Spread a nasty smear. At a Pennsylvania rally on June 22, Trump made the baseless claim that Biden will use drugs to get 'jacked up' for the debate. Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told me that Biden’s State of the Union speech was 'evidence' that Biden uses performance-enhancing drugs. 'The Joe Biden who delivered the State of the Union is not the same Joe Biden the American people see every day. It’s clearly two different people. It’s literally Jekyll and Hyde,' Miller said."
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But that's not the only damage control tactic Trump's team is using — they are also proclaiming the debate will be rigged by CNN, to assure their supporters it's fine if Trump loses, all the while "highlighting that Trump is conspicuously not doing formal debate prep — a clear flex to show Trump isn’t worried about Biden."
"All of these tactics add up to a difficult messaging challenge: Trump wants to keep up the attacks on Biden’s age while also explaining away a potentially strong performance from Biden," said the report. "Some in Trumpworld are worried Trump is walking into a trap. According to two sources, Steve Bannon has told people Trump should never have agreed to debate. One of the sources told me Bannon explained that if Biden bombs the debate, Democrats will find a way to replace Biden on the ticket (a scenario Miller shot down), and if Biden performs well, the race becomes even closer."
The debate, which was agreed to by the candidates as an alternative to the traditional Commission on Presidential Debates events scheduled for the fall, will be one of two, with another taking place in September.