Panic and repositioning: What Biden dropping out of the 2024 race means for the Trump campaign

After a relentless pressure campaign by Democratic lawmakers, operatives, and donors, President Joe Biden has announced he is dropping out of the 2024 race. From being one of the youngest senators to becoming the oldest sitting president in US history, Biden’s remarkable political career has come to an abrupt end.

This move will exhilarate those in the Democratic Party who have been calling for a younger candidate, but it will also dishearten those who see this as a disenfranchisement of their primary vote.

When it comes to the Trump campaign, however, they might have the most panicked reaction out of everyone.

The most definitive depiction of this fear comesfrom The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, who was embedded with the Trump campaign for six months. The “campaign is all but praying Joe Biden doesn’t drop out,” Alberta wrote, on July 10. Now their nightmares have come true.

In aconversation with Ezra Klein of The New York Times, Alberta said he saw firsthand the Trump campaign’s anxiety about Biden being replaced. “The Trump campaign, from day one, has been built not to run against a generic Democrat,” Alberta said. “It’s been built to run a very specific race against a very specific opponent in Joe Biden.”

Alberta detailed how Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, the advisers who have been co-managing Trump’s campaign, have tailored their operation — from their micro-targeting ad strategies to their broader messaging — to Biden. A change of the Democratic nominee throws that entire plan into disarray.

In the simplest of terms, Trump’s campaign was all about depicting their nominee as “strong” and Joe Biden as “weak.” They’ve been spreading clips of Biden that emphasize his age and seek to denigrate his mental acuity for months.