President Joe Biden heads to the secluded mountain resort of Camp David on Thursday night to lock down with advisers and prepare for next week’s debate with Donald Trump.
A week before the confrontation, Biden, who prefers briefing folders and practice sessions, will focus on holding Trump accountable for his record and proposing strong phrases to mislead the former president.
Meanwhile, Trump has been trying out new slogans and bits of rhetoric, ready to hit his rival with his words.
Next Thursday’s debate in Atlanta is believed to be the first time the two men will be in the same room together in four years, since their last presidential debate on October 15, 2020.
Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump (right) will meet on the debate stage in Atlanta next Thursday
Biden’s campaign has already downplayed expectations, noting that the president has been busy with his day job rather than preparing for the debate stage.
“The president will have less time for debate preparation than he did 4 years ago due to his day job, so preparation will be largely limited to the moment immediately before,” a campaign official told DailyMail.com.
Biden is coming off a hectic two-week travel schedule, having spent five days in France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and a state visit. She then traveled to Italy for 48 hours to attend the G7 conference. She spent the weekend fundraising on the West Coast.
But the biggest hurdle the 81-year-old will have to overcome are concerns about his age.
Trump’s campaign has criticized him for recent incidents that showed him frozen or having to be guided off stage.
The White House claims that the videos are edited to make the president look bad. And Biden’s campaign has fired back at Trump, 78, pointing to occasions when he fell asleep in court during his trial in New York for corporate fraud.
Meanwhile, Trump has also downplayed the upcoming confrontation.
At a rally in Wisconsin this week, he argued that he will not only debate Biden but also the two CNN debate moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, whom he says he doesn’t like.
“I’m going to debate with three people instead of half one person,” he said.
Biden will have the first word and Trump the last when the two men meet. The campaigns participated in a drawing with the CNN anchor on Thursday to determine the order of speeches and podium position.
The debate will last 90 minutes with two commercial breaks.
During that time, the president will focus on attacking Trump for “taking away reproductive rights, promoting political violence and undermining our democratic institutions, and doing the bidding of his billionaire donors to fund tax giveaways to the ultra-wealthy and corporations that harm others.” seniors and the middle class,” a Biden campaign official said.
But neither of them He has refrained from attacking his rival.
Trump claims Biden is physically and mentally unfit for office, while Biden has called his Republican rival “unhinged” and a danger to democracy.
Biden supporters also point to Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his May 30 conviction on 34 felonies for his role in a scheme to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with a porn actress. public star.
Meanwhile, Trump could attack Biden’s son Hunter, who was convicted last week of three felonies related to a 2018 gun purchase.
Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden have been on the debate stage since 2020; Above they are seen in their last debate on October 22, 2020.
President Joe Biden likes to do prep work at Camp David; Above, he and his team prepare for the State of the Union address at Camp David in March.
Neither has been on the debate stage in years.
Biden had no serious Democratic primary challenger and Trump refused to participate in the Republican primary debates, which did not hurt him since he won the nomination.
Biden’s former chief of staff, Ron Klain, is leading the effort to help the president prepare for the debate. Klain has groomed presidential candidates dating back to Hillary Clinton.
Trump is not expected to hold mock debate sessions that require someone to play the role of Joe Biden.
As for the Biden campaign, they said the role of Donald Trump has not yet been cast for their mock sessions.
Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, played Trump in Biden’s debate preparation sessions four years ago.
But Trump will have time to practice his lines of attack. On Saturday, four days before the debate, he will hold a campaign rally in Philadelphia.