Maggie Haberman, a political reporter for The New York Times, said people around former President Trump recognize that he set expectations “too low” for the debate with Biden four years ago.
“There’s a perception within the Trump camp that they’ve significantly lowered their expectations for Biden,” Haberman said. Said Anchor Catilan Collins spoke on CNN’s “The Source” on Thursday, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
“I don’t know if a week until the debate is enough time to do it over, but Trump didn’t help himself in 2020 by constantly interrupting Biden, and he knows it and he’s telling people that,” Haberman added. “Trump and his aides know they set their expectations for Biden too low, and Biden won them over.”
Haberman also noted that Trump and his team were “trying to move from saying, ‘Biden can’t tie his shoes and will stumble across the stage,’ to saying they expect Biden to do well, just like he did a few months ago during the State of the Union.”
Trump said Thursday he was “not underestimating” Biden in the next debate. The two presidents are set to go head-to-head next week on CNN in their first debate since 2020.
Haberman said earlier this week that Trump also recognized he interrupted Biden too often during the first debate four years ago, when Biden was heavily criticized for his performance in the debate.
“Trump has told people multiple times that he was aware that he interrupted too frequently in the first debate with Biden in 2020, and I recently rewatched the debate and was really shocked,” Haberman told CNN on Wednesday.
