DES MOINES, IOWA — President Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Thursday offered voters a possible preview of the general election, trading political jabs while sketching out dramatically different views on the state of the nation.
The prospect of a showdown between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden has hung over the primary race and the impeachment trial on Capitol Hill, where White House attorneys and Republican lawmakers are trying to focus the hearings on allegations of corruption leveled against Mr. Biden and his son Hunter.
Jumping at the chance to frame the race in mano a mano terms, Mr. Biden sought to draw a sharp contrast with Mr. Trump, telling voters that he would move the nation away Mr. Trump’s “corrosive” brand of politics.
“He traffics in the ugliest streams of bigotry and prejudice that have long coursed through this country,” Mr. Biden said. “He’s more a bully than a president. More George Wallace than George Washington.”
Mr. Trump struck a more positive note, telling the thousands who turned out to see him that “this is a happy period for us” and poked fun at his rivals, including Mr. Biden’s penchant for verbal miscues.
“Let’s vote for Sleepy Joe. He’s falling asleep,” Mr. Trump said. “He always gets the name wrong. How many times has he missed it? He is in Iowa. He says, ’Great to be in the great state of Ohio,’ and they say, ’Joe, you are in Iowa.’
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“You can’t do that,” he said. “No matter how great you speak. If you are Winston Churchill, if you make that mistake at the beginning of the speech, it is over.”
Back in Washington, Mr. Trump’s attorneys were facing questions from senators in the president’s impeachment trial, which is throwing a wrench into the campaign plans of Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
The proceedings, which could wrap up as early as Friday, have pinned down senators in the Capitol, giving Mr. Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and nonprofit executive Andrew Yang more room to run in the early primary states.
Mr. Trump stands accused of improperly withholding military assistance from Ukraine to prod the country’s leaders into digging up dirt on the Bidens.
As part of his closing pitch, Mr. Biden and his allies — including former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who served as secretary of agriculture in the Obama administration — are hammering home the point that he’s the candidate the president’s team fears the most.
“This whole impeachment trial for Trump is just a political hit job on me, and that is how scared Trump is,” Mr. Biden said at a campaign stop in Newton. “I’ve never seen a president so interested in who the Democratic nominee is going to be in my whole life.”
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He noted the president’s team is still trying to put on a show of force by deploying more than 80 surrogates, including the president’s two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, to campaign at various Republican caucus locations Monday.
“It seems to me that they are trying to smear me because they are trying to stop me. Because they know if I am the nominee, I will beat Donald Trump,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Trump, who was joined by Vice President Mike Pence, said he is looking forward to a second term after delivering on his promises.
“During this campaign
season, the good people of Iowa have had a front-row seat to the lunacy and the madness of the totally sick left,” Mr. Trump said.
“This election is a choice between American freedom and Democratic socialism and in some cases, in my opinion, it is worse than socialism,” he said. “The Democrats will lose because America will never be a socialist country — we can’t.”
The dueling Iowa appearances came as voters prepare to officially kick off the nomination race with the caucuses Monday. Mr. Biden arguably has more riding on a strong finish than anyone else in the race.
Polls show Mr. Biden holds a 4% lead in a hypothetical matchup with Mr. Trump, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls. It found Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren also lead Mr. Trump but by smaller margins. Mr. Buttigieg is locked in a dead heat with the Republican commander in chief.
Mr. Biden’s problem, though, is he trails Mr. Sanders in Iowa and in New Hampshire.
Still, Scott Tomer said this is Mr. Biden’s time.
“He is the right man for this time in American history,” the 54-year-old said. “Let’s face it, Donald Trump is a huckster, he is like … P.T. Barnum. He’s like a comic book character. America is not a … reality show.”
But the president’s supporters said it is far-fetched to think Mr. Biden can beat Mr. Trump.
“I don’t think Trump’s afraid of Joe Biden or facing him at all. I think it’s just another one of the [Democrats’] little ploys,” said Darcey Whidmann, a 62-year-old retiree from Altoona. “They’re on a roll with the impeachment and everything. They’re just trying to do everything they can to discredit Trump.”
John Hansen, of Grimes, said the former vice president is “arrogant.”
“I feel sorry for him,” the 72-year-old retiree said. “I don’t think it’s his time. It seems like wherever the wind’s blowing, that’s [what] he’s going to say he’s for next.”
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, first raised the comparison of Mr. Trump to Mr. Wallace in July, after Trump supporters at a campaign rally chanted “send her back” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat and a native of Somalia. When Mr. Biden ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, he invoked Mr. Wallace’s name for a different reason.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in September 1988 that Mr. Biden, while campaigning in Alabama that year, “talked of his sympathy for the South; bragged of an award he had received from George Wallace in 1973 and said ’we [Delawareans] were on the South’s side in the Civil War.’” The Trump campaign ridiculed Mr. Biden last summer over his former appreciation for Mr. Wallace.
“Hey @JoeBiden, maybe you forgot, but the only person in this race connected to George Wallace is you,” the Trump War Room tweeted.
• David Boyer contributed to this report from Washington.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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