Have you noticed how the Biden campaign has suddenly gone all-in trying to tie Donald Trump to Project 2025? It’s a strategy that reeks of desperation because Biden’s campaign has figured out that running against Trump hasn’t worked.
Think about it. The whole "threat to democracy" narrative has fallen flat, and the "convicted felon" thing isn't working either. Nothing has been able to move the polls in Biden's favor because voters remember how much better things were when Trump was president, and there aren't enough talking points in the world that can convince people that things have been better under Biden.
The campaign was so desperate for something to facilitate a reset that after months of dodging Trump's calls for a debate, Biden challenged Trump to two debates with a whole bunch of rules designed to hamstring him. It failed big time.
Now the campaign is holding on for dear life, and it needs a new strategy to shift the campaign back its way before Biden is forced out. And voilà! Donald Trump isn't Biden's opponent anymore — it's Project 2025.
Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan drafted by conservative think tanks outlining policy goals and a vision for governance should a Republican win the White House in November. There's nothing controversial in it at all if you believe in the Constitution.
While the average voter remembers how much better things were under Trump compared to now under Biden, they don’t really know what Project 2025 is or what it says. Naturally, the Biden campaign, desperate to shift the focus from their candidate's glaring weaknesses, has decided to paint it as an apocalyptic blueprint that will unravel the fabric of American society, destroy our government, destroy the planet, yada, yada, yada, and link it to Trump. This, Biden's campaign thinks, will reignite fears about Trump and put it in a position to regain some lost ground.
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Most of the claims the Biden campaign and its allies have made about Project 2025 are simply absurd and easily debunked, yet they’re counting on people to be unwilling to spend the time verifying them. This reliance on ignorance and fear-mongering is a gamble that voters won’t look into the details and will instead take Team Biden's word at face value. By doing so, the campaign is hoping to create a monster out of a policy paper, banking on the idea that no one will challenge its misrepresentation. Perhaps they’re right about that.
But if the constant hammering that Trump is a “threat to democracy” hasn’t resonated with voters and Trump’s conviction didn’t destroy his campaign, do these people think that fearmongering about Project 2025 is the silver bullet they needed to stall Trump’s momentum? How can it work? It's a de facto admission that voters are nostalgic for the Trump era (and why wouldn't they be?), and the Biden campaign is simply grasping at straws hoping that it finds some line of attack that will stick.
In the end, Biden can't win by running on his record, and he can't win by attacking Trump's record either.