Trump campaign insiders said the former president is “fired up” after his debate with President Joe Biden, which even top Democrats said was a disaster for the incumbent.
“He is fired up, he’s on a mission,” adviser pollster John McLaughlin said of former President Donald Trump.
“What a beatdown,” the co-founder of McLaughlin & Associates, which today released a new 2024 poll showing Trump leading Biden, added.
While Democrats spun into a frenzy over Biden’s poor performance and awful appearance, the Trump team portrayed their candidate as one who is still approaching the election as the underdog.
McLaughlin said, “He’s determined to win. He’s on a mission.”
Trump campaign insiders and Republican observers said they believe he won on several issues, notably taxes, inflation and immigration. But they also agreed that it’s Biden’s performance that will be remembered by voters more than Trump’s controlled demeanor and answers.
Former Republican Party spokesman Doug Heye, for example, told Secrets that the smell of failure came early when Biden campaign officials started leaking the excuse that the president had a cold and was tested for COVID-19.
“Two things early on tell you this was a terrible night for Biden: Trump saying ‘I didn’t understand a word of that last sentence and he probably didn’t either’ (and viewers agreeing) and the Biden staff saying he has a cold. Making excuses for your candidate during the debate is a new one.”
Pollster Jeremy Zogby said that Trump started off well but took the bait when Biden stumbled.
“Trump started off the debate testing the waters. His opening was a toned-down version of the Trump we know. But then Trump the barracuda smelled blood, and unleashed a barrage of policy and character attacks hoping to stupefy Biden,” he said.
“But Biden was already stupefied. Trump returned to his familiar self. And the debate devolved. Neither really had a vision for the country. Biden was nearly incomprehensible. Trump looked better because he was intelligible,” he added.
McLaughlin said Trump will continue to run like an underdog, hitting as many states as possible in the five months left until Election Day.
“We got 130 days to go. We’re running like we’re behind,” he said.
The pollster confirmed that Trump said two years ago that he didn’t want to run again, but felt compelled to after watching Biden dismantle much of his agenda. When McLaughin presented Trump polling showing that most Republicans wanted him to return, he advised that Trump focus on Biden and not the other GOP candidates.
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Trump did and won the nomination and still has that focus.
McLaughin said, “I said, if you can, if you want to win the nomination, and all these people are running against you, what you have to do is beat Joe Biden and if you’re beating Joe Biden you win the nomination. The way to win the primaries is to beat Joe Biden every day and he did, and we won a historic primary victory. And the strategy is still the same.”
