Donald Trump is defined in large part by a belief in pre-emptive delegitimization. Fearing possible election defeats, the Republican has consistently taken steps to delegitimize the process to explain away potential losses. Fearing possible legal setbacks, he’s also repeatedly tried to delegitimize the justice system to validate potential adverse outcomes.
For whatever reason, Trump approaches practically every challenge with the same thought: “If I fail, it can’t be my fault.”
With this in mind, it’s not too surprising to see the former president apply this same model to Thursday night’s debate against President Joe Biden — which the presumptive GOP nominee is preparing for by making pre-emptive excuses for the possibility that the event might not go his way.
In recent days, Trump and his surrogates have condemned the debate’s format — apparently indifferent to the fact that his own team negotiated the terms of the event — while going after the CNN anchors who’ll moderate the debate.
As for the possibility that his Democratic opponent might be able to “put two sentences together,” Trump appears eager to pre-emptively delegitimize Biden’s debate performance, too. The New York Times reported:
In his last scheduled rally before he takes the stage for a presidential debate, former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday mocked President Biden over his preparations, suggesting his opponent might be using medical supplements. … [H]e seemed to be preparing his supporters for the possibility that Mr. Biden might prove a formidable opponent by accusing him of using a chemical boost.
“I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right?” Trump said on Saturday, referring to the incumbent, after telling supporters that Biden will get “a shot in the ass” shortly before the debate. The former president added soon after, “Whatever happened to all that cocaine that was missing a month ago from the White House?”
Trump peddled a similar line a week earlier in Wisconsin, suggesting Biden not only used illegal drugs, but actually stole cocaine found in the White House.
He’s also getting plenty of backup from the usual suspects: The Republican National Committee, among others, has asserted as fact that the incumbent president is “on an intense doping regimen,” and assorted right-wing members of Congress have called on Biden to take a drug test to resolve allegations that Trump manufactured out of whole cloth.
Last month, Republican Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina went so far as to tell Fox Business that he had secret knowledge about Biden’s reliance on illicit substances, which he refused to divulge on the air.
To be sure, all of this is quite bonkers, even by contemporary Republican standards, though it’s not altogether new. As regular readers might recall, Trump was concerned about his debates against Hillary Clinton, so he said the former secretary of state might be on performance-enhancing drugs.
Four years later, he did it again. In September 2020, the then-president whined incessantly about his suspicion that Biden was also on drugs. Asked at a White House press briefing whether this line of attack was an attempt at humor, the Republican replied, “No, I’m not joking.”
But in 2024, Trump and his allies have embraced the bizarre theory with even great vigor and enthusiasm. The former president pre-emptively delegitimizes elections so he can rationalize defeats. If he loses, he says, “I told you the democracy is rigged.” If he wins, he says, “The fact that I overcame rampant cheating makes my victory all the more impressive. The same applies to the courts. If he’s convicted, he says, “See? I was right all along.” If he’s acquitted, he says, “My success was even more impressive given that I was up against a corrupt system.” And now the model is being applied to debates. If Biden excels, Trump wants to be able to tell his followers, “I said all along that the debates are rigged, the moderators were unfair, and my opponent is a drug addict.” If the former president does well, he’ll declare, “I won the debate despite the fact that the process was rigged, and Biden had an unfair pharmacological advantage.” Trump could be investing more time and energy ensuring that the debates go well, but he apparently finds it far easier to focus on making pre-emptive excuses for the possibility of losing. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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