American voters may feel a sense of deja vu when their president calls into a morning TV show and criticises the so-called elite. But this time, it’s not Donald Trump but Joe Biden on the other end of the line.
As the 81-year-old Democrat struggles to save his reelection bid after a fraught debate against the 78-year-old Republican, Biden is increasingly turning to the aggressive strategy pioneered by Trump.
And while Trump has remained silent since the June 27 debate, it is Biden who has begun hitting the media and campaign trail to counter growing concerns about his age.
In a move reminiscent of Trump’s days as president, when he regularly called in to the conservative Fox and Friends, Biden on Monday dialed in to the liberal MSNBC network’s Morning Joe program.
“I’m getting very frustrated with the elites — I’m not talking about you guys — the party elites, ‘Oh, they know too much,’” a furious-sounding Biden said as he mocked Democrats who have called on him to step down.
“Anyone among these people who doesn’t think I should run – run against me. Announce your nomination for president, challenge me at the convention.”
Populist politicians, including Trump, have positioned themselves as men of the people against “the elite” to attract voters, even though they themselves are part of the elite.
There were mixed reactions to this call-in.
Famed Hollywood director Rob Reiner, who made the comedy classic “When Harry Met Sally,” said that if Biden continues to perform like this leading up to the election, “he will be able to silence people like me who think he should step aside.”
And Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, said Biden’s “energy is great” on the Morning Joe call but that his “message is absolutely crap.”
He called X “angry, defensive, attacking all the wrong people.”
‘big rush’
Since the debate, Biden has learned a few other things from his predecessor’s strategy.
Claiming huge crowds at your rallies? Check.
“We’ve been drawing great crowds. Ever since the debate, not kidding, even that night we had great crowds,” Biden said at a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Talking at length about his accomplishments? See it – at rallies, in letters to congressmen, and to reporters.
And picking selectively from polls — whether to falsely claim underdog status in the 2020 battle with Trump, or to deny record low approval ratings this time around? That, too.
“Look, I remember him saying the same thing to me in 2020, ‘I can’t win. The polls show I can’t win,'” Biden, who was ahead in the polls against Trump four years ago, said last week during a post-debate interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
But in many ways, the signs had been there for months.
Biden has taken an aggressive stance against Trump since the beginning of the year, first calling him a “loser” and a threat to democracy and eventually attacking him for having “sex with a porn star” during a debate.
Trump appears to be moving in the other direction.
His debate presentation was up to the standards of the former reality TV star, and avoided the frequent interruptions of four years ago.
Meanwhile, right-wing commentators have speculated that Biden is copying another of Trump’s trademarks — his spray-tan.
Biden appeared pale during the debate, but there have been several memes circulating on the internet suggesting his skin looked orange in recent days, including the ABC interview.
Paul Murray, a commentator for Sky Australia, said Biden had turned “from white to orange”, joking: “Is he trying to trick US voters into thinking he is Donald Trump?”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
