Former President Trump believed that Democrats would replace then-candidate Joe Biden with former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or former first lady Michelle Obama as the party’s nominee in 2020, according to a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender.
The forthcoming book, “‘Frankly, We Did Win This Election’: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,” says the theory came from former Bill Clinton adviser Dick Morris, who was “quietly advising Trump” during the 2020 election. The book cites the theory as the reason Trump held back from attacks on Biden during the Democratic presidential primary.
“Dick Morris told Trump that Biden was too old and too prone to gaffes to be the nominee,” Bender wrote, according to Vanity Fair.
“Others said Fox News anchor Sean Hannity expressed concern that Biden would collapse under a sustained attack from Trump,” he added.
The book claims that, during a meeting with top advisers in April 2020, Trump said that Democratic Party officials would “realize [Biden is] old, and they’re going to give it to somebody else. They’re going to give it to Hillary, or they’re going to give it to Michelle Obama.”
The book also states that, in early 2020, Trump expressed concern during a meeting in the Oval Office at trailing Biden in election polls at the time, asking, “How am I losing in the polls to a mental retard?”
Bender’s book is set to be released Aug. 10. It is one of several books about the Trump administration from reporters who covered the former president’s time in office and his reelection campaign.