Biden’s support is coming from an unlikely place — Trumpworld. This is why

President Joe Biden’s press conference performance on Thursday evening received praise from an unexpected source: Donald Trump Jr, the son of the person Biden beat in 2020.

On the surface, this may seem a bit peculiar. Don Jr speaks the language of MAGA more fluently even than his father and Biden flubbed early in his “big boy” press conference by calling Kamala Harris “vice president Trump”. He also introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” at a separate NATO event a few hours earlier.

All this should give someone like Don Jr a clear hit. MAGA rarely pulls its punches. But anyone with a cursory history of politics will see this was a classic example of what Watergate operative Donald Segretti, a member of the Committee to Re-elect the President (called CREEP for short), would call “ratf**king” — the art of dirty trickery, scheming and political jiu-jitsu intended to undermine political opponents.

Biden has consistently polled below Trump ever since he announced his re-election campaign. And after Biden’s lackluster debate performance, Republicans see him as even weaker and more likely to lose to Trump. So there is an incentive to praise Biden and give people a reason for him to stay in the race, rather than risk someone more popular taking over.

This comes ahead of the Republican National Committee, the latest installment of the Trump show, making its way to Milwaukee next week. Republicans want to make the spectacle all about Trump and his would-be running mate. Having Biden drop out during that time would dampen the vibe during Trump’s coronation.

And Republicans are not the only ones who are learning the lessons from Watergate. On August 7, 1974, a band of Republican members of