Four years after the Covid pandemic brought America to a standstill, President Joe Biden’s campaign is trying to answer a common question asked by former President Donald Trump and his allies: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Trump posed the question to his 6.7 million followers on Truth Social earlier this week, using it to draw contrasts between Biden and Trump’s record on the economy and the border. But the Biden-Harris campaign plans to highlight key points from four years ago to bring the question back to Trump, seeing a golden opportunity to fight the pandemic.
The Biden campaign issued a statement Friday morning highlighting Trump’s promise to “terminate” the Affordable Care Act, nearly 10 days after the World Health Organization declared Covid a global pandemic four years ago.
“Four years ago today, as Americans were dying from Covid-19 by the thousands, more Americans were infected and hospitals were reaching breaking point, Trump was trying to throw millions of Americans off their insurance,” Biden-Harris spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
On Thursday, the campaign released a digital ad combining audio from the early days of the pandemic of Trump touting the disinfectant as a treatment, downplaying concerns about the number of Covid-related deaths at the time and dismissing reporters’ questions about it. crisis management.
And Biden is testing the strategy on the stump while speaking at fundraisers in Texas.
“Just a few days ago, he asked the famous question: ‘Are you better today than yesterday?’ Well, Donald, I’m glad you asked that question,” Biden said Thursday during a campaign reception in Houston. (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)
Biden pointed to Trump’s handling of the pandemic and a debunked claim that Trump suggested injecting bleach as a treatment option.
“He should do it,” Biden joked.
It comes amid broader efforts by Biden and his campaign to incorporate language popularized by Trump and Republicans.
To highlight the fact that Biden has held more campaign events than Trump this month, Biden’s campaign accused the former president of “hiding in his basement” — a line Trump and allies have often deployed about Biden in 2020.
The campaign also made “Brandon” — a code word used by Republicans to insult Biden — an internet alter-ego of sorts and a key component of his social media brand, launching the “Dark Brandon” account on X and several “Dark Brandon” branded memes.
A senior Biden-Harris campaign official told NBC News that the campaign will continue to highlight “key moments from four years ago throughout the month of April.”
These moments include headlines reminding voters of rising crime and toilet paper shortages near the end of Trump’s term, and images reminding voters of the “chaos” of the pandemic in 2020.
“Americans remember March Madness, the cancellation of parties, weddings and parties, the wait in line for toilet paper and essentials, the closing of businesses and the loss of loved ones – all because Trump failed to prepare for it and then failed to lead when we needed it. the most,” said Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for the Biden campaign. “The only thing that happened four years ago to improve the lives of Americans was Donald Trump losing to Joe Biden.”
In a statement, Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt argued that the US was better off under Trump before Covid-19, citing higher mortgage rates, illegal border crossings, the war in Ukraine and other foreign conflicts.
“Americans know Biden is a disaster, and they were better off under President Trump, so President Trump continues to crush Biden in the polls,” Leavitt said.