President Donald Trump’s campaign and his allies see Biden’s highly anticipated and scrutinized news conference as a win-win for the former president.
“Biden appears to have done enough to convince his defenders that he should remain the nominee, while at the same time reaffirming what the American people know: their lives are hurting every day by Biden’s weaknesses and failures,” a Trump campaign official, who asked not to be identified and speak freely, told Fox News Digital after a press conference Thursday night.
The press conference did not appear to do any further damage, as the president continues to resist growing calls from within his Democratic Party for him to step down and end his 2024 reelection campaign after his disastrous debate performance with Trump last month. But the question remains whether Biden will be able to halt growing calls to drop out of the race.
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President Biden speaks during a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington, DC, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (Graham Sloane/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Trump campaign wants Biden to continue the campaign, as it appears they consider him the weakest candidate to challenge the former president. The Trump campaign continues to argue that the 81-year-old Biden is physically and mentally incapable of handling the duties of the presidency.
Video: Biden’s response to the name mix-up
After Biden mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “President Trump,” Trump’s social media accounts quickly shared a video of the moment, with the former president commenting, “Well done, Joe!”
Trump also posted to social media some of the president’s other missteps and gaffes from the important press conference.
The father’s top surrogate, Donald Trump Jr., said during his Rumble livestream that Biden “has done well enough to stay,” but later shared a social media post that blended together Trump’s and Harris’ faces and wrote “Vice President Trump.”
Veteran Republican consultant Dave Carney told Fox News the press conference “couldn’t have been better.”
“He didn’t drool, he didn’t collapse, he didn’t freeze,” said Carney, who heads a leading pro-Trump super PAC.
Biden’s fundraising will take a hit as Democrats call for him to end his 2024 presidential campaign, sources say.
But Carney argued that what Biden said at the press conference was not “reassuring” to voters or America’s allies.
He argued that the situation remains “up in the air” when it comes to Biden’s candidacy, and that for Republicans, “up in the air is a good thing.”
Former President Trump spoke at a campaign event at Historic Greenbriar Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia on June 28, 2024. (Parker Michels Boyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Mike Biundo, a veteran Republican strategist, told Fox News that the president “did enough to stay in the race, but not enough to be seen as a viable candidate.”
“From the Republican Party and the Trump campaign, I think this is 100% a win-win,” added Biundo, who served as a senior adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign.
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Since the June 27 debate in Atlanta, the Trump campaign and super PACs backing the former president have refrained from using footage of the president’s gaffes in their ads. They have largely kept a low profile, allowing media attention to stay on Biden and the Democratic turmoil surrounding his candidacy.
Asked whether the Trump campaign or allied groups should use footage of the press conference gaffe in ads, Biundo said, “I’ve always been a strong believer that when someone is causing damage to themselves, you should allow that damage to happen and not get in the way.”
“But some of these clips have so much gold in them that we can’t afford not to use them.”
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
