President Donald Trump's campaign is shifting its attacks to Joe Biden in the wake of his string of recent primary wins, calling attention to his gaffes and pushing a message that the former vice president's mental capabilities have become diminished.
At the same time, Trump and other Republicans are ramping up their efforts to convince Sen. Bernie Sanders's supporters that the powers that be in the Democratic Party are trying to rob the Vermonter of the nomination, Politico reports.
“Not only has the last 96 hours brought a seismic shift in the Democrat primary but the trajectory of the general election is now completely different,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide, commented.
With Biden's sudden climb, the Trump campaign is finding itself retooling from a match-up against Sanders, a democratic socialist, to Biden, a more moderate candidate.
Tuesday night, the Trump campaign switched its attacks to Biden, including posting a video to its Twitter account showing the former vice president appearing to confuse his wife and sister, who were standing behind him during a Super Tuesday rally.
Also on Tuesday, the Republican National Committee released a video on Twitter showing famous presidents speaking, and then concludes with Biden having trouble with a line from the Declaration of Independence.
Trump also Monday tweeted a video, produced by Fox News, of Biden's gaffes, and ridiculed his potential rival as not knowing "where he is, or what he's doing."
The attacks have also turned to Ukraine, with Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson threatening last week, after Biden's win in South Carolina, to issue a subpoena for records related to Biden's son Hunter and his employment with Ukrainian energy giant Burisma.
Nunberg also said he's concerned that former President Barack Obama may come out as a surrogate for Biden, and that Trump and his campaign should take his involvement "very seriously."
The president continued to complain Wednesday of a supposed Democrat effort to "crush" Sanders.
Trump tweeted:
The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN! Even the fact that Elizabeth Warren stayed in the race was devastating to Bernie and allowed Sleepy Joe to unthinkably win Massachusetts. It was a perfect storm, with many good states remaining for Joe!
He also slammed Elizabeth Warren as "selfish" for staying in the race and hurting Sanders "badly."