New book reveals Biden team pushed for early Trump debate strategy
Senior advisors to then-President Joe Biden reportedly urged him to hold a debate against President Donald Trump as early as possible in an attempt to highlight Biden’s “leadership” and Trump’s “weakness,” according to a new book set for release Tuesday.
The book, titled “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” claims that Biden’s team dismissed concerns about his age during the 2024 election cycle. Authored by Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post, the book reveals that Biden’s senior advisors wrote up a memo advocating an initial spring debate, followed by a potential second one in early September after Labor Day.
This strategy aimed to allow Biden to take on Trump before early voting in battleground states kicked off, set the terms of the debate most advantageous for Biden, and highlight Biden’s “leadership” in contrast to Trump’s. The memo emphasized the importance of reaching a wide audience early on and showcasing Biden’s strength compared to Trump’s perceived weaknesses and chaos.
However, the book also reports that some Biden aides were hesitant about an early debate, with some even advocating that Biden shouldn’t debate Trump at all. A Biden donor reportedly expressed alarm over Biden’s behavior at a Chicago fundraiser in May 2024 and pressed the White House to find a reason to pull Biden from the debates.
Meanwhile, the Trump White House claimed that the debate backfired on Biden, highlighting his own weaknesses instead. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers criticized Biden’s performance, stating that American voters witnessed Biden’s inability to form a complete sentence, his campaign in chaos, and the absence of a real leader in the White House.
The debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden ultimately led to Biden exiting the election in July 2024, with Vice President Kamala Harris taking on Trump in November 2024. Despite efforts by Biden’s advisors to showcase his leadership and contrast it with Trump’s perceived weaknesses, the outcome of the debate did not play out as expected.
“2024” is one of several books released in 2025 detailing Biden’s mental deterioration while in office and how Trump ultimately won the election. Another example is the book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” released on May 20.
In conclusion, the attempt by Biden’s team to strategize a debate against Trump early on in the election cycle did not yield the desired outcome, ultimately leading to Biden’s withdrawal from the race and paving the way for a showdown between Harris and Trump. The book sheds light on the internal discussions and concerns within Biden’s camp, as well as the contrasting perspectives from the Trump White House regarding the debate’s impact on the election.
