Biden to intensively prepare for debate against unpredictable Trump

REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware — President Joe Biden’s debate preparations signal the difference in style voters can expect onstage as former President Donald Trump opts for informal strategy sessions ahead of next week.

The president, who is finishing up a trip in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, will hunker down at Camp David starting Thursday, with an abbreviated amount of time devoted to debate strategy due to two trips he’s made to Europe in the last two weeks.

The sessions are expected to be more traditional mock preparations at the Maryland retreat, where many presidents before Biden have practiced in the lead-up to their debates. Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain will take the lead after helping Biden in 2020. The president’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, has not confirmed whether he will reprise his role as the president’s stand-in for Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump, whose freewheeling style is viewed as both a strength and liability in a rigid debate format, has begun to hold informal strategy sessions, including multiple with Republican senators during his trip to Washington, D.C., last week.

“The president will have less time for debate prep than four years ago given his day job, so prep will largely be confined to immediately prior,” a Biden campaign official told the Washington Examiner. “The president has gotten increasingly punchier in recent remarks about Trump and plans to carry that theme through to the debate while still projecting himself as the wise and steady leader in contrast to Trump’s chaos and division.”

Next week’s debate could be a pivotal moment in the 2024 rematch between the two men, with Biden in particular hoping to dispel concerns about his age and mental acuity. For its part, the Biden campaign teased he will lean into familiar Democratic themes, including presenting Trump as a threat to democracy and abortion access.

“The president is prepping to hold Trump accountable for his extreme record and the dangerous things he’s been saying on the trail,” the Biden official said.

Trump allies, too, have been making the debate more about policy than the performance of each candidate.

One of those Republicans, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), confirmed he and Trump had an impromptu “wide-ranging” debate session last week at the Republican National Committee‘s headquarters during the former president’s tour of the capital.

But he said the point of the debate will be to draw a contrast on everything from the economy to immigration.

“It’s also a pretty unique opportunity for the American people to see, sort of, a side by side of two people who’ve served as president and what they were able to accomplish, you know, under President Trump and what a disaster Joe Biden’s record has been for 3 1/2 years,” Schmitt told the Washington Examiner. “That’s a pretty unique contrast that no one’s seen in our lifetimes.”

Trump has also spoken with policy experts and vice presidential hopefuls, including Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

The strategy sessions will give Trump a chance to improve on his performance in 2020. During the first debate, his interruptions of Biden were viewed as a mistake, though the mics will be muted when a candidate is not speaking, per the debate rules.

However, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller dismissed the need for Trump to prepare and even suggested not doing so is part of what will distinguish him from Biden.

The former president “takes on numerous tough interviews every single week and delivers lengthy rally speeches while standing, demonstrating elite stamina,” Miller told the Washington Examiner.

“He does not need to be programmed by staff or shot up with chemicals like Joe Biden does,” he added, repeating claims that Biden took performance-enhancing drugs for his most recent State of the Union speech.

Schmitt said Trump didn’t need the advice and predicted he will do well regardless. “He’s a very effective debater and a great counterpuncher,” he said.

The war of words has bled into a disputed story that the Biden campaign tried to negotiate for the pair to debate sitting down.

“Donald Trump is a liar and a fraud. His campaign is full of liars and frauds,” the Biden campaign told reporters this week. “Their desperate leaks and lies to the right-wing media only underscore how scared Donald Trump is to debate.”

But the messaging war will also continue promptly after the debate ends.

Trump’s camp has commissioned its first general election ads for next Thursday, the day of the debate, on CNN, the network hosting the event. At the same time, Biden’s team has announced a $50 million June ad investment emphasizing Trump’s conviction in his hush money trial.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters this week to “stay tuned” regarding Biden’s schedule when asked whether he would have any public events before the debate, though she did preview the possibility of an appearance on Monday for the second anniversary of the Supreme Court repealing Roe v. Wade.

“We’re still always working through the president’s schedule,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “As you know, sitting in these seats and covering the president, you know how that is. Sometimes things pop up on the schedule very, very quickly. And so we always share that with you all.”

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Biden and Trump’s opening debate will be moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta next Thursday at 9 p.m. and will air without a studio audience or written notes on their podiums.

The 90-minute broadcast will be interrupted for two commercial breaks, during which the candidates will not be able to confer with their campaigns, as part of an agreement made without the Commission on Presidential Debates for the first time in almost 40 years. ABC will host the second debate on Sept. 10.