John Heilemann: ‘If You Can Make This Race Be About Donald Trump, You Are Likely to Win’

MSNBC’s John Heilemann thinks that the Biden campaign should make November’s election a referendum on President Donald Trump. Heilemann told Morning Joe that framing the election in this way would make it difficult for Trump to win.

“The Biden campaign, their central strategic objective throughout, before the pandemic and before the George Floyd moment that we’re going through, post-George Floyd moment, was to try to keep the focus on Donald Trump, make this a referendum on Trump,” Heilemann said.

“After Covid, or in the middle of Covid, in the moment we’re now living in, it’s all the more important, and I would say also easier, to keep the focus on Donald Trump. So you know, I think it’s the case — people make fun of Joe Biden and his basement strategy. I think it’s a little unfair for two reasons. One is that he comes out and he has made strategic interventions at various times to go out and hit Donald Trump at the right moments.”

“The other thing is that this is the whole strategy — make this race be about Donald Trump. If you can make this race be about Donald Trump, you are likely to win this race.”

“And so, the Biden campaign has been disciplined and has been focused and has had the moments when it has chosen to intercede in the campaign, have been wisely chosen, largely. He’s not going to be able to — I mean, Joe Biden’s going to — whether it’s in the debates, on the convention stage and other places, he’s going to have to step forward. There’s gonna be a clear contrast.”

“Those are the moments that Donald Trump is waiting for. But right now, the central strategic objective of the Biden campaign is served by the kind of campaign they’re running, and they can’t be faulted for that. And right now, you know, Donald Trump is doing nothing but continuing to batter himself over the head with his own bag of golf clubs.”

“So I mean, you’d be kind of a moron if you were Joe Biden and wanted to try to get in the way of a guy who is in the process of committing harakiri every day on national television as Donald Trump has been for the past few months.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.