Trump gives up preparing his debate with Biden to campaign in a crucial decisive state

DONALD TRUMP DIVIDED into arguably the most important state on the electoral map yesterday, opting for a rally in Pennsylvania rather than a practice of formal debate two days before the final presidential debate that may be his last and best chance to alter the trajectory of the 2020 campaign.

Democrat Joe Biden took the opposite approach, preparing for debate in the run-up to Thursday’s showdown in Nashville.

But Trump, who lags behind in polls in most battle states, continued his travel blitz in the final half of the race and delivered what his campaign has wanted its final message to be.

“This is a choice between a super recovery for Trump and a depression for Biden. He will have a depression like he’s never seen before, ”the president said in Erie, Pennsylvania.

“If you want depression, doom and despair, vote for Sleepy Joe. And boredom. “

But the president’s speech that he should lead the rebuilding of an economy ravaged by the pandemic has been overshadowed by a series of fights.

In the past two days, he has attacked the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and a venerable television news magazine, while suggesting the nation was tired of talking about a virus that has killed more than 220,000 Americans.

Before leaving the White House, Trump recorded part of an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes show that apparently ended bitterly.

On Twitter, the president declared his interview with Lesley Stahl to be “FAKE and SENSE,” and threatened to publish a White House edition before its airtime on Sunday.

Also lagging behind in fundraising for campaign ads, Trump increasingly relies on his signature campaign rallies to deliver a final message to voters and maximize turnout among his Republican base. His trip to Pennsylvania yesterday was one of several expected to be to the state in the next two weeks.

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win everything,” Trump said in Erie.

Erie County, which includes the aging industrial city in the northwestern corner of the state, went for Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in 2012, but broke Trump by 2 in 2016.

That shift, fueled by Trump’s success with white, working-class, and college-educated voters, was echoed in small cities, towns and rural areas and helped him overcome Hillary Clinton’s victories in the state’s big cities.

But the president likely needs to raise the score this time, as his prospects have slumped since 2016 in the vote-rich suburbs of Philadelphia, where he underperformed previous Republican measures.

This raises the stakes for more aggressive outreach of his campaign to new rural and small-town voters throughout the industrial north.

His aides worry that his opponent is in a unique position to avoid that, as Biden is not only a native of Scranton, but has built his political persona as a representative of the middle and working classes.

Meanwhile, Obama returns to Philadelphia for his first in-person campaign event in 2020 for his former vice president. He will speak Wednesday at a drive-in movie theater, where fans will hear him on the radio inside their cars.