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Reince Priebus, chair of the RNC host committee, predicted there is a strong chance that President Joe Biden won’t be on the Democratic ticket.
The former chief of staff to Donald Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Saturday that he believes there is a “60 percent chance” that the president won’t be the Democratic nominee after his stumbling debate performance last month.
Priebus’ remarks arrive just before the RNC convention in Milwaukee, which is set to begin Monday.
Biden’s omission from the ticket is not “going to change anything about the tone or what the Republican Party is going to do” during the convention, he told the outlet.
Trump’s campaign reportedly has been “praying” that Biden remains the Democratic nominee, according to The Atlantic, as the former president’s team had built a blueprint around defeating his 2020 rival, through social media memes, underscoring his age, and ragging on his record.
When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked about whether Trump would prefer to go head-to-head with Biden in November, the former Republican National Committee chair said: “I’m not so sure how much it all matters.” He added: “Part of me enjoys the drama. It’s sort of just fun to watch, to be honest.”
Biden himself has repeatedly vowed to stay in the race. But with growing calls from celebrities, lawmakers and donors for Biden to quit, the Trump campaign is forced to rejigger its strategy and face the possibility that another candidate could ascend to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Priebus described the Democrat-led hysteria following Biden debate performance as “a slow leak that’s not going to go away” but insisted that his party continue to focus its strategy around Biden.
He added, however, that Republicans “might spend a little time” talking about other Democrats, such as Vice President Kamala Harris. Despite Priebus’ wishes, post-debate, some in his party have already launched sexist and racist attacks against Biden’s potential replacement pick.
The RNC host committee chair said that Republicans should take advantage of the Democrats’ divisions — and encouraged Democrats to continue airing their grievances about the president’s fitness.
“They’re killing themselves no matter what they’re doing. They’re eating up time, they’re eating up money. And they’re killing their incumbent president,” he told the outlet.
“As far as I’m concerned,” he added, “they ought to keep doing it.”
Democrats have until their convention — August 19 to 22 — to officially nominate their candidate.
