Progressive groups have issued five recommendations for President Biden ahead of Thursday’s first presidential debate of the general election season.
The Progressive Campaign Committee for Change (PCCC) sent Biden a debate memo outlining the group’s proposals for the president to prevail in a showdown with former President Trump.
The group’s top recommendation, according to a memo obtained by The Hill, is for Biden to “create dramatic conflict on common economic issues.”
“In the climate-driven world of politics, the secret to policy breakthroughs is to spark conflict on popular issues and create debate moments that are high-profile and full of drama,” the memo said, noting that strong moments are “winning on climate” and “winning on policy.”
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The commission also focused on “dramatic clashes” in its next recommendations, suggesting Biden lure former President Trump into a clash by pitting him against his own past statements and those of his Republican allies.
The group speculates that Biden would be more likely to reject unpopular views in the debates, even if they are those of his running mate or his own past statements. If Biden draws attention to contradictory statements, Trump “will be more likely to drop the ball, appear unprincipled and create a viral moment.”
The committee also suggested Biden make room to reflect his “forward-looking vision” by contrasting what both candidates have done so far in office with what they are doing now and what the future holds under their respective administrations.
The group argued that linking Social Security cuts to taxes on the wealthy has already proven to be a winning strategy for Biden, and urged him to stick to that rhetoric in the debate.
“The reason we continue to lump Social Security and taxation of the wealthy together as one issue is because Trump cannot pretend to sympathize with that position. He would have to support the continuation of the Trump tax cuts for billionaires, which essentially means draining funds that could ultimately be used to protect Social Security,” the memo read.
The committee’s final advice to Biden was to view progress in microeconomic terms rather than macroeconomic terms.
According to the memo, polling by the PCCC and Data for Progress found that people concerned about the economy are concerned about issues “that affect household finances, not macroeconomic numbers like GDP.”
Biden and Trump will face off in the first presidential debate on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. The debate is hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, and moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. Both candidates have spent the past few days preparing their attacks and policy positions for the debate.
Laura Kelly contributed reporting.
