How Trump's Biden mania led him to the brink of impeachment

[highplainsdem]

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/27/trump-biden-impeachment-005123

The cascade of tweets began at 4:56 a.m. on May 1, starting with the president’s criticism of the nation’s largest firefighters union’s endorsement of Joe Biden. Over the next two hours, more than 60 retweets bashing Biden and the firefighters’ decision would follow from Donald Trump's Twitter account.

The burst of activity came during a three-month period that reveals an extraordinary preoccupation with his potential general election rival, and provides a window into Trump’s thinking in the run-up to his fateful July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At home and abroad, on Twitter, at campaign rallies, in interviews and even from the White House lawn, Trump spent an inordinate amount of time deriding Biden and insisting that the former vice president could not be ahead of him in polls — despite the fact that Biden has led the president in general election matchups in every major poll conducted in 2019.

-snip-

The Biden campaign concluded that, based on what it knew about the reelection campaign’s well-financed, sophisticated data operation, Trump’s reaction was a sign there was likely even more bad polling data about Biden’s appeal that didn’t get a public airing.

-snip-

“The one thing the president is well aware of is that in his base there are a lot of Obama voters,” the aide said, alluding to what he said was the president’s perception that Biden threatened his hold on those voters. “They’re union members, they’re rank and file. A lot of those times, if they were campaigning, Obama would send Biden out there.”

-snip-

Biden disappeared from Trump’s Twitter feed for a brief period in the run-up to special prosecutor Robert Mueller's July 24 testimony before Congress. The Zelensky call, in which the president asked the Ukrainian president to investigate the Ukrainian business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter, took place the next morning.

As it turned out, Biden would loom over the entire day. Aside from the president’s request — which would ultimately spark an impeachment inquiry — Fox News released a poll that day showing Biden with a commanding 10-point lead over Trump.

And hours after the call, Trump, his top political advisers and congressional leaders gathered in the White House for an extensive campaign briefing in which Trump adviser Bill Stepien highlighted Biden as a potentially formidable threat.

-snip-

Trump's terrified of Biden.

And it's interesting that Politico is now also noticing something I pointed out last week, about that Fox News poll showing Biden with a 10-point lead being the same day as the Zelenky call.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287293554

[George II]

1. The troika that terrifies trump: Obama, Clinton, Biden.

[peggysue2]

2. The timeline on all these events . . .

is very damning for Trump. What really intrigues me is the Paul Manafort pardon connection because that is apparently where all of this started with the Biden attacks being glommed onto the overall 'plot' to protect Trump from additional disclosures (Manafort's displeasure of sitting in jail, possibility of loose lips) and shore up Trump's reelection prospects for 2020. Trump and his enablers know all too well what they face once he's pushed out of office.

So, that next-day call to Zelensky is certainly not a coincidence. Because coincidences don't exist in politics.

[Gothmog]

3. This isn't a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. This is a national issue.

Link to tweet

[DrFunkenstein]

4. You Do Realize That His Cronies Have Been Investigating Warren But Can't Find Anything

Trumpworld Anxiety Grows Over a Rising Elizabeth Warren

Republicans are wondering why there is so little critical coverage of the senator and why the stories out there are making next to no dent.

“We all push out the bad Warren stories but they don’t go very far,” one Republican strategist said.

The frustration Republicans are beginning to feel about Warren’s non-stick nature was picked up repeatedly in interviews with 10 Republicans, including Trump campaign and White House officials, associates of the president, and other GOP operatives with knowledge of the situation.

These sources stressed that the anti-Warren effort within GOP circles hadn’t fallen off since the DNA snafu.

Indeed, everyone from officials on Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, to the Republican National Committee, to a select group of opposition researchers have been sifting through her record in search of vulnerabilities.

But with few punches landing, the worry is that Trump may have already taken his best shot, and that Warren will end up looking increasingly formidable for having bounced back.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-and-elizabeth-warren-trumpworld-anxiety-grows-over-the-massachusetts-democrat

[Gothmog]

5. Desperate Donald Trump knows that Joe can beat him

Link to tweet

[Cha]

6. trump is so Stupid.. his own worst

enemy. His jealousy and fear of Joe Biden certainly did lead him right here.

Mahalo, highplainsdem!