Donald Trump suddenly seems "scared and weak" now that his Democratic opponent appears to be Vice President Kamala Harris instead of President Joe Biden, a "Morning Joe" panelist said on MSNBC Tuesday.
Biden dropped out of the race last week after his performance in the first debate raised serious questions about his ability to win the election and serve a second term. But MSNBC contributor Elise Jordan, who was an advisor to Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) 2016 presidential campaign, told "Morning Joe" that the former president doesn't seem to know how to run against his new opponent.
"Kamala Harris is not defined yet by the majority of American voters except for Donald Trump's base," said Jordan, who was also a former staffer to George W. Bush. "They have their impression of Kamala Harris that's, obviously, not going to change. Other than that, he needs to get to work, his campaign needs to get to work.
"This has been over a week and a half and they haven't really landed an attack on her that's resonating. They are so all over the place. You hear, 'Oh, she is not that bright, she didn't – she failed at the border.' It's not coordinated, there is not any drum beat going, and so, as of now, I would not give them a very high score being able to define her."
The ex-president refused to commit to debating Harris in an interview Monday with Fox News, where he insisted he would "probably" debate the vice president but left some room for ambiguity, saying voters already knew enough about each of them and claiming he was "leading in the polls."
Read also: Kamala Harris vows to debate Trump's empty podium if he skips September debate
"Trump seems scared and weak about the debate," Jordan said. "[Campaign adviser] Jason Miller came on with Chris Jansing on this network and said that Donald Trump definitely would debate, and that's not what Trump said last night to Laura Ingraham. He seemed to be hedging in a big way."
Host Jonathan Lemire, who was filling in for vacationing co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, agreed that Trump's campaign had failed to land any attacks on Harris since she became the apparent frontrunner.
"At least it would seem some of these attacks are borderline sexist and flat-out sexist, and Trump has not used DEI, that phrasing, as much as a lot of his fellow Republicans," Lemire said. "It's part of the same attack line. There is that sliver of people in this country who don't know who they are voting for. Some are women or men who will be offended by these kinds of comments. This seems risky."
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