Photo by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Former Vice President Joe Biden won the incredibly close and controversial 2020 Presidential election largely by staying out of the public eye and not campaigning.
Early indicators point to the Biden camp hoping to use that same strategy in 2024.
But now Republicans are considering an option that may have President Biden’s plans to avoid a debate with Donald Trump going up in smoke.
President Joe Biden’s fear of debating
There were only two President debates during the 2020 general election cycle.
That was the fewest in 24 years.
Then-candidate Joe Biden used the pandemic as an excuse to get out of going to rallies, town halls and debates.
Virtually the entire Biden/Harris 2020 campaign was done via commercials while the candidate at the top of the ticket stayed hidden away.
Now that he’s running for re-election, the pattern appears to be repeating.
The Democrat Party decided against hosting a single Primary debate – despite at one point Robert F. Kennedy Jr polling at nearly 20% in Democrat polling and Marianne Williamson in some early surveys scoring near double-digits.
Team Biden is keeping the incumbent President of the United States so far away from the campaign trail, they even declined a softball Super Bowl interview.
So it would appear President Biden is looking to avoid debating former President Donald Trump as much as possible.
However, the GOP may have come up with one scheme that takes the decision out of Biden’s hands.
Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden early preview
On March 7, President Biden is scheduled to give his annual State of the Union Address (SOTU) in front of a joint session of Congress.
If past SOTUs are any indication, given it’s an election year, the SOTU will likely feature a gaslighting list of so-called “accomplishments” from the Biden Administration’s first term in the White House.
However, a President’s SOTU isn’t a completely unanswered opportunity.
Following the address, the opposition is allowed time to make a rebuttal.
Now NBC News is reporting that the Republican Party is considering former President Donald Trump as the man to deliver the party’s rebuttal to Biden’s SOTU.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign has said there have been no talks on the matter as of yet.
But Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is hoping the party can make it happen.
“Of course, President Trump should do it,” MTG said.
A de facto debate
Before the President delivers his remarks to the joint session and the nation on March 7, GOP leaders will receive a copy of the address – that way they can respond directly to any claims made.
If Trump delivers the rebuttal countering Biden’s claims, it could serve as almost a de facto early debate between Biden and Trump.
General election opponents don’t typically face off at the SOTU.
That’s because typically, the out-of-power party is in the middle of a heated Primary when the SOTU is delivered.
The party won’t pick one of the primary front-runners to avoid the appearance of favoritism.
However, with almost everyone but Nikki Haley understanding the Republican Primary is all but over, Trump could be the perfect person to deliver the SOTU rebuttal and start the general election process early.
