President Biden testing positive for COVID-19 offers grim counterprogramming to an energetic Republican National Convention, during which former President Trump is set to give his first speech on Thursday since surviving an assassination attempt.
While Biden is isolating at his home in Delaware, Trump bounced back from the shooting at his rally on Saturday to a hero’s welcome in Milwaukee. Biden’s campaign has been releasing ads and holding press conferences to counter Republicans throughout the week but the president himself will not have any public appearances for at least a few days.
The juxtaposition offers what some see as a night and day approach to each man’s campaign in what has consistently been a tight race for most of the year so far.
“Today is a terrible day. If you pull it back and look at this thing, strength versus weakness,” Democratic strategist Van Jones said on CNN on Wednesday night. “A bullet couldn’t stop Trump, a virus just stopped Biden. You’ve got the nominees of this party getting their butts kissed. Biden’s getting his butt kicked by his own party. The Democrats are coming apart and the Republicans are coming together.”
