(BrightPress.org) – President Joe Biden’s campaign jumped on former President Donald Trump’s comment that if he was re-elected, he would not be a dictator “except on Day 1.” Trump’s comment came during a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity, where he was asked if he “would ever abuse power as retribution against anybody.” Trump was also asked about his would-be authoritarianism in a potential second term during the town hall.
Biden’s campaign strategy has centered around the idea that Trump would use federal powers to attack media organizations, deploy the military domestically, investigate his political opponents, and consolidate executive authority. Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster for Biden’s 2020 campaign, stated, “This is an existential threat.” Lake added that it is why Biden ran in 2020, and the reason he is running again. During a December 5th event in Boston, Massachusetts, Biden stated he was unsure he would be seeking reelection “if Trump wasn’t running.” Biden then added, “We cannot let him win.”
Lake said that Trump’s remarks raised the issue. She added, “Whether [Trump] realizes it or not: America doesn’t want a dictator.”
Some Democrats have urged Biden’s campaign to focus on issues such as abortion and not to focus on Trump. However, Biden wants to frame the election as “a battle for democracy itself.” In 2020, he stated the election was “a battle for the soul of the nation.”
As Trump talks about his plans for a second term, “We try to lay out the choice for voters in November,” according to Brandon Weathersby, the presidential communications director for a top Democrat super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century.
The Biden campaign took to social media following Trump’s comment with warnings about the former president. Biden’s campaign also organized an event to bracket the Republican primary debate in Alabama, and that included denouncements of Trump. “Democrats are gonna seize on this,” Weathersby said about Trump’s comments. He added that he thinks there will be “more elevation of those words.”
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