Biden and Trump target each other in dueling attacks

With Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump dominating their respective party’s votes in Super Tuesday’s presidential primaries, the two issued vitriolic public messages about each other and the state of the country. completely different descriptions.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, Biden warned that a second Trump term would pose an “existential threat” to American democracy. Trump, for his part, called Biden “the worst president in the history of our country” during a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Experts say Americans can expect more of the same, and possibly more, in the eight months leading up to the election.

‘People will get tired of it’

Seth Muscat, professor of political science and director of the Center for American Politics at the University of Denver, told VOA that because Biden and Trump are known to American voters, they will be more focused on tearing each other down rather than building up. Get up on your own.

Muskett said he expects a lot of negativity on the campaign trail, with Trump trying to convince Americans that the economy and society as a whole are collapsing because of Biden, while Biden defends his record and reminds Voter Trump’s many dysfunctions. white house.

“Trump is going to try to paint today’s situation as the worst ever,” Muskete said. “Biden is going to try to paint today’s situation as good… and, he’s going to try to A reminder of the chaos of the last year of the Trump administration, with the pandemic, the insurrection, and all sorts of other things that were going on during that year.

“Yes, people will get tired of it, but I have a hard time imagining them changing that,” he said.

“Wrongful and deceitful”

Biden reminded voters late Tuesday that his leadership has seen record job growth and wage gains, as well as policy victories on prescription drugs and guns. Much of the statement, however, focused on warnings about what a second Trump term might look like.

“All of this progress will be at risk if Donald Trump returns to the White House,” Biden said. “He is driven by grievance and fraud, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people. He is determined to destroy us democracy, take away basic freedoms like women’s ability to make their own health care decisions, and pass yet another bill to cut taxes for the wealthy by billions — he will do or say anything to keep himself in power.”

A Biden campaign strategy memo released to the media Wednesday morning also raised questions about Trump.

“Donald Trump limped into the general election as a wounded, dangerous and unpopular candidate,” the memo said. “The Republican nominee is strapped for cash, beset by a host of external problems, and An extreme agenda is being pursued that has proven to be a significant liability for key voting blocs that are critical to getting 270 electoral votes.”

“Our country is dying”

Trump watched the Super Tuesday results at Mar-a-Lago and later addressed a crowd of supporters. The former president painted a bleak picture of the state of the country, claiming that the United States had been “devastated” during Biden’s three years in office.

He cited numerous domestic and international challenges that have emerged during Biden’s term, including consumer price inflation and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and insisted that none of them would have happened if he had been in office.

Trump’s main focus is the ongoing crisis at the southern border, which has left immigration authorities and state officials overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. He asserted, without evidence, that the country was experiencing an immigration-driven crime wave.

“We’re going to have to deport a lot of people, a lot of bad people, because our country can’t live like this,” Trump said. “Our cities are suffocating. Our state is dying. And, frankly, our country It’s dying.”

Trump also accused the current president of mishandling issues related to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, U.S.-China relations, and energy independence.

On Wednesday, Trump’s only remaining challenger for the Republican nomination, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign after losing 14 of 15 primaries the night before. Trump showed his focus on Biden by never mentioning her name during his speech Tuesday night.

Trump’s strategy for 2016

The themes Trump emphasized in his speech closely echo his 2016 campaign, when he focused on immigration at the southern border from the moment he announced his candidacy.

“The former president has a history of using the divisive playbook to try to move things forward,” Amy Darcy, executive director of the Sain Institute for Policy and Politics at American University, told VOA. “You saw that in 2016. That. He said he understands people’s anger and anxiety and who is causing it: those who cross the border.

“I think he’s going to go back to the 2016 script,” Darcy said. “Whether people will find this inspiring remains to be seen.”

Daisey noted that while Biden went directly after Trump on Tuesday, he will have a chance to highlight his ability to compromise with other Republicans on major legislation during his first term in his State of the Union address to Congress on Thursday night. approach and highlight potential areas for future cooperation.

“In this week’s State of the Union address, I think there are issues where consensus can be reached, whether it’s curbing fentanyl and the drug problem, helping veterans or ending cancer. There are some things that are absolutely bipartisan and affect everyone, So how would he talk about this?”