VP front-runner JD Vance urges Donald Trump to use secret weapon in his debate with Biden, even as he warns ‘biased’ format and drugs will help 81-year-old president
Vice presidential front-runner JD Vance has some advice for Donald Trump ahead of the first debate on Thursday: show your heart.
“He loves families. He just loves people, really,” the Ohio senator told Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on his podcast.
“And I think if we can hint at that a little bit, that will help him more than any specific policy talking point.”
But at the same time, he followed other Trump loyalists in warning that a Trump victory was not guaranteed, downplaying expectations and warning that CNN anchors, the absence of a studio audience and the use of drugs could all help President Joe Biden.
It marks a significant change in tactics among Republicans, who have long portrayed Biden as a weak invalid incapable of coherent thought.
Senator JD Vance urged former President Joe Biden to show his human side in Thursday’s debate
Now they fear that even a modest performance from the 81-year-old could surprise viewers and give him a lift in the polls.
Vance followed Trump himself in discussing Biden’s chances and adjusting expectations.
‘Trump is certainly a better debater. He certainly has better ideas, he can convey them much more effectively,” he said.
“But we must also realize that the cards for this debate are fundamentally tilted against Trump.”
There will be no studio audience, he said, to hinder Trump.
“There is no interaction and we know that Trump is much better at interacting with people than Biden. So that’s a huge advantage for Biden,” he continued.
He also accused the moderators of being biased against the Democratic president and claimed that his campaign negotiated to keep the two debaters in place (a claim repeatedly denied by CNN’s hosts) to neutralize Trump’s energy and imposing figure.
“And finally, Charlie, we have no idea what kind of drugs they’re going to give Joe Biden. And you can’t drug test the man before the debate, and so they could very well get the best 90 minutes that Joe Biden has,” he said, without evidence to support the theory.
Vance has become one of Trump’s most loyal defenders and has catapulted himself into the running mate race.
Biden and Trump face off in their first debate on Thursday evening
Biden and Trump with their wives after the first presidential debate of 2020
He is one of about eight potential candidates being vetted by Team Trump and is the choice of the MAGA base.
He said that Trump was able to show another side during the debate, his human side.
“That’s one of the things I don’t like about not having an audience because you don’t get that interaction,” he said.
“But I do think that Trump can still show his heart in the debate… and if he does, it will be very effective. It will resonate a lot.”
Aides have often advised Trump to show more of the human side they see behind the scenes. He never followed that advice and stuck to a more boxy, cantankerous style.
The two will face off in Atlanta, Georgia, in a debate hosted by CNN and moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
The agreed rules mean that there is no audience and that the microphones are turned off when the other candidate is speaking.
However, a JL Partners poll found that viewers have extremely low expectations for Biden, fueling fears among Team Trump that anything short of a big win will actually be a loss.
JL Partners surveyed 500 likely voters between June 10 and 11 and asked them what they expected would happen if Joe Biden and Donald Trump faced off in their first presidential debate
So Trump allies no longer joke that simply standing tall would be a win for Biden.
Instead, they now talk about his debating skills or hint that a strong performance could be down to chemical help.
“He’ll be so excited. He’s going to be pumped up,” Trump, 78, told supporters at a rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, before hinting that cocaine would be the secret to an energetic performance.
“You know all that stuff that was missing from the White House about a month ago? What happened?
“Somebody didn’t pick up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine. I wonder who that could be. Don’t know. Actually, I think it was Joe.”