Republicans fear any upheaval among their Democratic competition in a race they believe they are already winning.
As he watched President Biden’s news conference Thursday night, Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, gave Biden an unexpectedly gracious review.
“He probably did himself some favors,” Trump Jr. said on the Rumble live-video platform, before adding: “Probably did us some favors. He’s fine.”
It was the latest example of Republican candidate Donald Trump and his allies expressing more openly what they have been signaling privately: As Democrats debate the future of Biden’s reelection bid, Republicans would prefer he stay in a race they believe they are already winning.
“I don’t think anyone necessarily thinks he’s fit to be president, but I’m happy to run against him,” Trump Jr. said in response to a viewer question after the news conference. “I think he did fine enough to be able to stay in it.”
Several Trump allies said they viewed Biden’s Thursday night performance as the best of both worlds: not bad enough to make him leave immediately, but not good enough to assuage fears. Some of Trump’s advisers have plotted privately on whether they can do anything to help keep Biden in the race, believing he will be much easier to beat.
“Just enough to keep him alive,” said one senior Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations. “Every day that Joe Biden is talking is a good day for us. We want him to keep on talking.”
Trump himself, in a radio interview Friday, said the news conference was “not the end” for Biden as some Democrats speculated it could be.
It is a somewhat awkward position for the GOP, which has spent years arguing that the 81-year-old Biden is unfit to be president. Now, those critiques are dovetailing with some Democratic calls for Biden to leave the contest over his age — and be replaced by Vice President Harris or an even lesser-known entity.
Trump Jr. said Thursday night that Harris is “not nearly as defined” as a candidate, calling it a “big deal” that could complicate the race.
“It makes it impossible for him to be on offense hitting us. No one is talking about democracy or abortion,” said another Trump adviser, who like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
