Donald Trump’s ‘Biggest Weakness’ Will ‘Destabilize’ His Debate Performance, GOP Strategist Says

In an interview with host Rick Wilson on The Daily Beast’s New Abnormal podcast, Lincoln Project co-founder Mike Madrid predicted that Donald Trump’s “biggest weakness” would “destabilize” his debate performance against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday.

As reported by Raw Story, Madrid claimed that Trump is likely preparing for the debate but “won’t pay attention,” before touching on his purported weakness.

“Here’s what I think Trump’s biggest weakness is in the debates,” he said. “The fact that you’re not going to have a live audience is really going to destabilize him. He doesn’t need a big one, he just needs a handful of people who will give some sort of group cackling or group response. Without that, that is where Trump is at his worst.”

Madrid highlighted that Trump has conducted many one-on-one interviews with journalists in the last month and argued they exemplified that the president has “no gauge” on his performance when he doesn’t have an audience for feedback.

“He literally needs the feedback and the larger the crowd, the more comfortable he is with his P.T. Barnum persona. Without that he’s going to be wandering around like a goat in the wilderness.”

Wilson, who is also a Project Lincoln co-founder, previously made similar comments. As The Inquisitr reported, he suggested that the lack of an audience would prevent the head of state from successfully using the tactics that worked against Hillary Clinton in 2016. He also claimed that Biden’s aggression will create a different dynamic than there was with Trump and the former secretary of state.

Others have speculated that Trump has created trouble for himself with his attacks on Biden’s mental acuity by lowering the bar. According to The New York Times, this strategy could backfire if Biden’s performance on Tuesday doesn’t fit the caricature of the former vice president that Trump’s campaign has worked to create over the last months. As The Inquisitr reported, Trump’s campaign now appears to be working to counter this possibility by highlighting Biden’s long political career and debate experience.

Nevertheless, The New York Times suggested that Trump’s past comments could come back to haunt him. Notably, the head of state was open about his criticism of Biden during the primary debates and suggested that he would cleanly defeat the Democrat in a one-on-one performance.

Unlike in 2016, the president has allegedly been working with his campaign to prepare for the first debate and work out ways to capitalize on Biden’s weaknesses.