While presidential hopefuls routinely try to raise expectations for their rivals ahead of debates, Donald Trump has done largely the opposite, telling the public that President Joe Biden “can’t put two sentences together” and is “the WORST debater“ the former president has seen. Complicating matters is the fact that the Republican and his allies have pushed similar messages throughout Biden’s term, eagerly trying to convince the electorate that the Democratic incumbent is borderline comatose.
With this in mind, some Republicans, just over the last few days, have decided to start pushing back in the opposite direction — claiming that the president might not be in such bad shape after all. Take former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for example. Media Matters noted: Hmm. When then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched a debt ceiling crisis last year, the California Republican offered to bring “soft food” to the White House, suggesting that Biden was too old to eat anything else.