Joe Biden prepares for presidential debate against Donald Trump with five-day Camp David trip, as the nominees ready for first face-off in four years
President Joe Biden heads to the secluded mountain resort of Camp David on Thursday evening to huddle with advisers in preparation for next week’s debate with Donald Trump.
With the showdown a week away, Biden, who prefers briefing folders and practice sessions, will focus on taking Trump to task on his record and coming up with snappy one-liners to throw off the former president .
Trump, meanwhile, has been trying out new slogans and rhetoric, ready to bombard his rival with his words.
It is believed that next Thursday’s debate in Atlanta will mark the first time the two men have been in the same room together in four years – since their last presidential debate on October 15, 2020.
Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump (right) meet on the debate stage in Atlanta next Thursday
The Biden campaign is already downplaying expectations, noting that the president has been busy with his day job instead of preparing for the debate stage.
“The president will have less time to prepare for the debate than he did four years ago because of his day job, so preparation will be largely limited to the period immediately before,” a campaign official told DailyMail.com.
Biden is emerging from a hectic two-week travel schedule after spending five days in France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day and a state visit. He then went to Italy for 48 hours for the G7 conference. He 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.
The Trump campaign has harassed him with recent incidents in which he froze or had to be led off stage.
The White House claims the videos were edited to make the president look bad. And Biden’s campaign has hit back at the 78-year-old Trump, pointing to the times he fell asleep in court during his trial in New York on corporate fraud charges.
Trump, meanwhile, has also played up the coming showdown.
At a rally in Wisconsin this week, he argued that he would debate not only Biden, but also CNN’s two debate moderators — Jake Tapper and Dana Bash — who he says don’t like him.
“I’m going to debate with three people instead of half of one person,” he said.
Biden will have the first word and Trump the last when the two men meet. The campaigns took part in a coin toss with host CNN on Thursday to determine speaking order and podium position.
The debate lasts 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 taxpayer dollars to the ultra-wealthy and corporations by hurting seniors and businesses. the middle class,” a Biden campaign official said.
But neither man has shown restraint in attacking its 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’s supporters also point to Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his May 30 conviction on 34 felony counts for his involvement in a hush-money scheme to alleged sexual encounter with a porn site. star of the audience.
Trump, meanwhile, could target Biden’s son Hunter, who was convicted last week on three charges related to the 2018 gun purchase.
Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden have been on the debate stage since 2020 – seen above at their last debate on October 22, 2020
President Joe Biden enjoys doing prep work at Camp David – above, he and his team prepare for the State of the Union address at Camp David in March
Neither man has been on the debate stage in years.
Biden had no serious Democratic primary challenger and Trump refused to participate in the Republican Party primaries – which didn’t hurt him as he won the nomination.
Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain is leading efforts to help the president prepare for the debate. Klain has prepared 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 that the role of Donald Trump has yet to be cast for their mock sessions.
Biden’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, played Trump during Biden’s debate prep sessions four years ago.
But Trump will have time to practice his lines of attack. He will hold a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Saturday, four days before the debate.