For Biden and Trump, 2022 is the continuation of 2020 – and the preview of 2024? – Orange County Registry

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – This year’s midterm elections are playing out as an odd continuation of the last presidential race — and a potential preview of the next.

Donald Trump, who refused to leave the stage after his defeat, has spent months raging against Joe Biden and reshaping campaigns that normally function as simple referendums on the incumbent president.

The result is an episode of political shadow boxing with little precedent as the current president and his immediate predecessor – and possible future challenger – criss-cross the country in support of their party’s candidates.

Trump has held vocal rallies in battleground states, alternating between promoting his handpicked candidates and denouncing his enemies. He belittles and berates Biden while lying, as he did in Ohio last month, that “we didn’t lose the last election.”

Biden has so far steered clear of some of the tightest midterm races, instead focusing on fundraisers and official events where he draws contrasts between Democratic and Republican political agendas. He often avoids direct references to “the last man standing,” but on Saturday in Oregon, Biden warned that “Trump controls the Republican Party.”

Sometimes the two men travel to the same places, such as when they visited Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, just days apart, a reflection of the narrow political map that will determine which party controls the US Senate.

“It’s remarkably unusual,” said Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, straining to compare it to previous election cycles.

“Since the Great Depression” — Republican Herbert Hoover trying to find a way back to power despite losing to Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 — “we have not had, without exception, a former president who thought he had a viable political career ahead of him to have her,” he said.

Neither Trump nor Biden have officially announced that they will run again. Trump is close to announcing his candidacy and Biden has said he intends to seek a second term.

If they face each other again, the contest between them could become one of the longest and most impactful political duels in American history, spanning multiple years and multiple elections.

Voters appear to have little appetite for a rematch.

A recent AP-NORC poll shows that only about 3 in 10 Americans want either Biden or Trump to run for president two years from now. Only 5 in 10 Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, while 6 in 10 Republicans hope Trump will seek the presidency again.

Engel said another fight between Biden and Trump would likely prove daunting.

“It basically means that our country is not moving forward,” he said. “I haven’t met anyone who likes this campaign.”

However, it is clear that both men see their fortunes tied to the other.

When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Biden if he was the only one who could fend off his predecessor in another campaign, the president dodged the question but expressed confidence in his chances.

“I think I can beat Donald Trump again,” he said.

Trump would question the use of the word “again” — he continues to spread the lie that Biden took office through voter fraud.

It’s an integral part of Trump’s political message, and he never fails to bring it up at rallies for Republican candidates who supported his misguided views of the last election. At times, the rhetoric delves even deeper into conspiracies, a reminder that another campaign could represent an even sharper break with reality.

In Arizona, during his recent rally, Trump somberly hinted that Biden was surrounded by “malicious, very smart people” who were “pulling strings.”

“No one thought this could happen in our country and it all happened because of a rigged and stolen election,” he said.

The former president has also ramped up his acceptance of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which portrays Trump as a fighter against sinister, hidden powers.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump shared a picture of himself with a Q pin that read “The Storm is Coming,” referencing his eventual victory over opponents who were being tried — or even executed — on live television – would become.

People close to Trump have said they believe a strong Republican performance in November will further encourage Trump to run again in two years’ time, as he has been openly teasing for months.

In addition to his rallies, which bring candidates to local media attention and fuel the Republican base, Trump has helped candidates in other ways, holding fundraisers and phone rallies on their behalf. Most importantly, last week its new super PAC, MAGA Inc., reserved nearly $5 million in airtime for ads in key states that attack opponents of its preferred candidates.

Notably, the group’s first round of ads does not feature Trump or mention his name. Republicans have expressed frustration that Trump was hoarding small donations for himself and refusing to help the candidates he had urged voters to nominate despite sitting on a huge war chest.

But Mike DuHaime, a longtime Republican strategist, is unsure whether the outcome of the midterm elections will make a difference in Trump’s plans for the next presidential race.

“He’ll take credit for every win and take guilt away from every loss,” he said.

Trump has claimed, as he did in Pennsylvania last month, that the midterms are “a referendum on the corruption and extremism of Joe Biden and the radical Democratic Party.”

But DuHaime said Trump prevented that by interfering in this year’s races and giving a boost to Biden, whose poll numbers remain underwater as voters voice concerns about the economy.

“Trump is no ordinary president, nor did he seem to really care about the party,” he said. “He seems to care more about himself than about the party that put him in office.”

Biden’s circle takes a similar view. An aide, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal talks, said those close to Biden view the midterm election as more of an election than a referendum. Trump’s presence on the trail, the adviser said, is seen as helpful in making Democratic points for them.

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said the only thing that would be more helpful would be if Trump announced another presidential campaign.

“He’s getting dangerously close,” she said.