Trump allies begin eyeing a new battlefield if Biden drops out

MILWAUKEE — With Donald Trump poised to accept the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, his allies prepared for the prospect of his opponent, President Joe Biden, dropping out of the race.

As Trump aides gathered in the Trade Hotel adjacent to the Fiserv Forum, they speculated about who Vice President Kamala Harris could pick as her vice presidential nominee if she replaces Biden on the ticket. MAGA Inc., the principal pro-Trump super PAC, has been doing opposition research and message testing against prospective Biden replacements, including Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and even billionaire TV personality Mark Cuban, according to a person with knowledge of the moves.

Another Trump-aligned super PAC has commissioned polling looking into how Trump would fare against Harris. A person familiar with the data said it showed Harris faring worse against Trump than Biden is — a result that is at odds with some other surveys.

Trump aides spent the day at the Republican National Convention here hunkered down and making last-minute alterations to his speech. As of Thursday afternoon, Harris — a potential opponent if Biden drops out — was not expected to play a major role in his speech and the edits did not relate to the possibility of a change in the Democratic Party ticket, according to a person familiar with the preparations who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

Trump has been taking the reins in writing the speech, which he has said he rewrote from scratch following the attempt on his life on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

While Biden has insisted he is staying in the race, he is under increasing pressure to withdraw — including from party leaders like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi.

“I think obviously that if Biden ends up being the candidate, it would be better for Trump, but we don’t really care,” said Stacie Matson, a delegate from Texas.

Many Trump allies say they would prefer to face Biden, given his weak standing in the contest.

“I want to see him stay in the race because he is a known quantity and I know we will win,” said Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.), chair of the House Agriculture Committee.

Or as Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) put it, “Anytime you see an opponent that is that weak and has such a horrible record, certainly, that's an opponent you want to go up against.”

Still, Moran said that “regardless of who they put up next, they're still going to be talking about the same policies.” And he, like many Republicans here, expressed confidence in the party’s ability to adjust.

“I think we would win anyways,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio , who was on the shortlist of Trump’s vice presidential contenders before being passed over for Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. “It would just be a different campaign.”

Republicans concede that Democrats could see some gains — at least in the short term — with a fresh candidate, whose selection would generate enormous media attention and interest from the electorate. David Urban, who helped run Trump’s 2016 campaign in Pennsylvania, said he expected Democrats to get a “temporary bump in excitement,” while predicting it would not last given the Biden White House’s struggles.

“The sad realization will set in that the Titanic is still headed for the iceberg,” Urban said.

Republicans offered a preview this week of how they would run against Harris if she does replace Biden on the ticket, casting her as a failed “ border czar .”

And on Thursday, the Trump campaign previewed another line of attack against Democrats: That they were engaging in an “ attempted coup .”

"It's deposing the president of the United States," Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita said during an interview at the POLITICO-CNN grill.

LaCivita also said the campaign would hit Harris on the border and called her the “gaslighter-in-chief” for saying about Biden, “Oh he’s fine, he’s in great shape.”

“That’s a character issue,” he said. He predicted Trump could even beat Harris in blue-leaning New Mexico.

With Democrats locked in internecine warfare, Republicans have been putting on a show of unity at their convention. While Trump’s 2016 convention was rife with drama and division, the former president has faced little by way of criticism in Milwaukee. Though still viewed unfavorably by many traditionalist Republicans — and more than half the country — party leaders, lawmakers and activists have rallied around the former president in the wake of the attempted assassination of him.

And with Biden hamstrung by questions about his mental acuity, the Trump campaign has used his convention as a means of projecting strength. Many of the speakers have talked about how Trump survived the assassination attempt, and delegates have routinely broken into the chant of “fight, fight, fight.”

Melanie Mason and Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.