CNN anchor Chris Wallace asked his panel if President Joe Biden can “out-Trump Trump” with insulting nicknames like “Broke Don” — and whether he should even try to.
Biden’s escalating “jugular” strategy was on display last week at a blockbuster fundraiser where he roasted Trump over his age and his golf game, and at other events where he has taken to lampooning Trump’s money woes.
Journalists Jonah Goldberg, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Eliana Johnson, and Kara Swisher joined Wallace for this week’s edition of CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show on Saturday morning, during which Wallace asked if this is a wise gambit.
The conservatives on the panel were skeptical, but Swisher got a kick out of the social media-coined nickname “Don Poorleone”:
WALLACE: Up first, a rare scene in politics. Three American presidents together in New York City in a sign of party unity. But much of their focus and attacks were about the other guy from the other party who also held the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We’ve got three presidents in the building tonight.
WALLACE: A presidential trifecta at Radio City Music Hall. Joe Biden enlisting former Presidents Obama and Clinton for a historic fundraiser that was closed to video cameras except for the campaign’s. Biden raising more than $25 million, adding to his growing war chest, which far outpaces Trump’s.
But money is not Biden’s only weapon. The president sharpening his personal attacks, going after Trump the way Trump belittles his opponents.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I’d be happy to play. I
told him this before. I said, I’ll give you three strokes if you carry your own bag.
WALLACE: And it got tougher from there.
BIDEN: A little old and out of shape.
Biden’s staffers now calling Trump feeble, confused, and weak. But as we learned in 2016, beating Trump at his own game is not easy.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Have you seen his hands? They’re like this. And you know what they say about men with small hands. You can’t trust them.
TRUMP: He referred to my hands, if they’re small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there’s no problem.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WALLACE: I was there that night. It really happened.
…Kara, when it comes to personal insults and trolling, can Biden out- Trump Trump?
KARA SWISHER: I don’t think he has to out-Trump Trump. He has to be Biden. And I think he’s actually good at it. He was good at the last election cycle, the “come on, man,” the thing that he does. So I think he’s just got to be genuine to himself when he’s doing it. And that was that was a good dig. And this is where politics is with Trump, you have to sort of meet them there. And Trump could be rather thin-skinned when it happens, and maybe he’ll hit back. But I think Biden is pretty good at it, actually.
WALLACE: Eliana, Biden’s staffers are reportedly test marketing various insults, like “Broke Don” and “Low energy Don,” both of which I think are kind of weak, and the question I have, what do we think are the chances that Biden or his staff can come up with a killer nickname, like “Crooked Hillary”? And should he even try.
ELIANA JOHNSON: I don’t think it’s a good idea. Look, Trump has shown that nobody can outdo him at this game, but you can tell that team Biden feels the need to keep the attention on Trump. And they know that to the extent Trump is dominating the headlines, they can keep the attention on him and not talk about the Biden administration’s record. That is good for him.
I’m sorry, though. Calling him old and feeble is not going to make up for the fact that their own guy is old and feeble. That’s a losing argument.
SWISHER: I think social media, we live in a social media age. And I think there’s things like Don Corleone, that’s actually a pretty good one, but that wasn’t the Biden people. Their social media is excellent. The Biden team, whoever is running it, is really smart and focuses a lot on the policy. And so I think you have to operate in these zones no matter how you slice it, because the press pays attention, other politicians pay attention, and it creates memes that move along.
JONAH GOLDBERG: So I agree with you that he shouldn’t try to out-Trump Trump, and that going after Trump in a way is good fan service his own base, and he needs to show that he’s fighting and so on. But I agree that Eliana that’s specifically the terms “old and feeble” if it’s a debate about who is older and feebler, I don’t think those are on Biden’s — that’s not Biden’s turf.
SWISHER: Although if he shows himself to be vibrant, which he did at this event, he’s shown it to be at the State of the Union address, then it becomes interesting. Why not shove it back?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: I think he has to show that he’s out there, that he’s vigorous. And unfortunately, we are in the I’m rubber and you’re glue, and whatever I say sticks back to you. I mean, that’s kind of where were at now in terms of these two men. They’re both old, and so them pointing each other — fingers at each other is just where we’re at.
Watch above via CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show.
