In an interview with MSNBC broadcast on Saturday, longtime Republican strategist Stuart Stevens said that President Donald Trump is going to get “absolutely crushed” by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden , Raw Story reported.
Speaking with anchor Alex Witt, Stevens argued that there is little Trump can do to change the trajectory of the race at this point, with around two weeks until Election Day.
Stevens pointed out that in 2016, Trump ran as an “outsider,” which served him well in a race against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who, as a well-known political figure, represented the Washington establishment.
This time, “he’s the incumbent,” Stevens continued, suggesting that voters have had more than enough time to assess whether he is what the U.S. needs.
In many ways, Trump has failed as president, the strategist posited, pointing to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has, apart from being a public health catastrophe, devastated the American economy.
Stevens explained that “in the last six months more people died from a disease than in the last 100 years, the economy is the worst since the Great Depression and you can’t leave the country, can’t drive to Mexico or Canada.”
“The only country can you go to in Europe is Serbia — we wouldn’t think that that person was coasting to re-election,” he continued.
The strategist said that Trump will not only lose the White House to Biden in a crushing defeat, but also drag down Republican candidates.
“He’s made it worse because he has no message and Donald Trump is going to be crushed, absolutely crushed, and he’s going to take a lot of Republicans down with him.”
Public polling supports Stevens’ analysis. According to FiveThirtyEight ‘s average of national polls, the president is trailing Biden by over 10 percentage points.
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Across the battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arizona, Biden is ahead by 4.5 percent, per the polling average by RealClearPolitics .
The president is lagging way behind in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In North Carolina, Biden is ahead by 2.7 percent, and in Florida, the two candidates are running neck and neck.
Still, the Biden campaign has warned against complacency.
In a memo sent out to supporters on Saturday, Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, argued that the race is much closer than it seems, imploring Democrats to disregard public polling and focus on reaching the finish line.
She stressed that Trump should not be underestimated, despite the fact that Biden has a major financial and organizational advantage.
