At Donald Trump’s latest campaign rally in Michigan, Donald Trump started to share some conspiracy theories about independent polls — which the former president is convinced are “rigged” — when he had a related thought.
“You know, we were up massively by Biden,” the Republican said. “How would you like to be me? I spent $100 million on beating Biden.” Moments later, in case the sentiment wasn’t clear the first time, he again said, “I spent $100 million on fighting him.”
It was a timely reminder, as a HuffPost report put it this week, “Donald Trump just can’t quit Joe Biden.”
The president dropped out of the 2024 race more than a month ago, yet his former Republican opponent keeps bringing him up, suggesting that Trump still can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that he has a whole new presidential race on his hands against Vice President Kamala Harris.
For those keeping score, President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign on July 21, which was roughly 40 days ago. Common sense suggests Trump, with fewer than 10 weeks remaining before Election Day 2024, would be focusing all of his attention on Harris and not the retiring incumbent.
And yet, there was the former president this week, publishing an item to his social media platform that read, “You know, if Biden didn’t do the Debate, he would be the Democrat Candidate for President right now. The fact is, Debate or no Debate, the Democrats really did a number on him!!!”
At face value, the GOP candidate’s missive wasn’t wrong — but it was irrelevant given the circumstances.
It was nevertheless part of a larger pattern. The day before Trump published that item to his platform, he was in Michigan, whining about Biden ending his candidacy.
Six days earlier, the Republican also complained that Biden’s exit was “not fair.”
In the preceding days, Trump made related comments, longing for the days in which the incumbent was still running, over and over and over again.
What’s more, when the GOP nominee isn’t attacking Biden for no reason, and pleading for Biden to stick around, Trump is peddling fan-fiction about the Democratic president re-entering the 2024 race.
To be sure, I’m well aware of the Republican’s motivations. As we’ve discussed, Trump was feeling quite good about the state of the race when Biden was still his opponent. The former president was ahead in the polls; Democrats were divided; and much of the national analysis was about the expanding electoral map, as traditional “blue” states started to appear more competitive. The Republican had reason to be pleased: He was winning. Indeed, Trump’s assumptions about his inevitable victory contributed to his decision to pick an unpopular far-right running mate: As the GOP nominee saw it, he could get away with adding Sen. JD Vance to the ticket — as opposed to a qualified candidate with broader electoral appeal — because the race was effectively over. And now it’s not. But while the former president’s frustrations are understandable, they’re also increasingly pitiful. Biden is retiring after a half-century of honorable public service. The quicker Trump comes to terms with the new landscape, the better off he’ll be. 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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