“If the election was today, yes, you’re concerned,” McCarthy said during an appearance on Fox News. “Can we do better? Yes, we can.”
Still, the candid public admission from the top-ranking House Republican was notable at a time when the party is increasingly worried about the prospect of not only losing the White House but also having Democrats gain control of both chambers of Congress.
Recent polls have shown Biden opening up a broader lead nationally against Trump and leading in several battleground states that were key to Trump’s electoral college victory against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. At the same time, polling has showed tighter races than expected in several key Senate contests.
McCarthy suggested a more stark contrast would develop between Trump and Biden before November and tip the scales toward the Republican incumbent.
“Who’s the best to articulate what the future is?” McCarthy said. “To me, who’s best to rebuild, renew and restore America? Who’s best to rebuild this economy? Is it going to be Joe Biden? Does anyone know what Joe Biden’s policies are? … Joe Biden hasn’t really been out of the basement yet. I think when you have that contrast going, President Trump will get reelected.”
McCarthy’s mention of Biden’s basement was a reference to the presumptive Democratic nominee largely communicating from his home in Delaware during the early stages of the pandemic. He has more recently started holding some in-person events.
McCarthy pointed to a verbal gaffe by Biden on Thursday when he said at an event in Pennsylvania that 120 million Americans had died of the coronavirus — the true figure is more than 120,000 — in arguing that Trump will fare better in direct comparisons.
The Republican angst about November was reflected in a Wall Street Journal editorial published Wednesday night that suggested Trump might soon need a nickname for Biden other than “Sleepy Joe.”
“How does President-elect sound?” wrote the publication’s conservative editorial board. “On present trend that’s exactly what Mr. Biden will be on Nov. 4, as Mr. Trump heads for what could be an historic repudiation that would take the Republican Senate down with him.”
The Journal said Trump had “reverted to his worst form” in recent weeks, criticizing him for both having “wasted his chance to show leadership” during the coronavirus pandemic and failing to provide “firm but empathetic leadership” amid the nationwide protests in response to the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.
“As of now Mr. Trump has no second-term agenda, or even a message beyond four more years of himself,” the editorial said.
Trump fueled such concerns Wednesday during a Fox News interview, in which he offered no specific policy goals when asked by host Sean Hannity for his “priority items for a second term.”
Trump instead talked about how he had gained experience in Washington for the first time during the opening years of his presidency.
“I never did this before — I never slept over in Washington,” Trump said. “I was in Washington I think 17 times. All of the sudden, I’m the president of the United States. You know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our first lady, and I say, ‘This is great.’ But I didn’t know very many people in Washington, it wasn’t my thing.”
During the same interview, the ever-confident Trump also seemed to acknowledge he could lose to Biden in the fall because “some people don’t love me.”
“Here’s a guy, doesn’t talk. Nobody hears him,” Trump said of his rival. “Whenever he does talk he can’t put two sentences together. I don’t want to be nice or unnice. Okay? But I mean the man can’t speak. And he’s going to be your president because some people don’t love me, maybe. And, all I’m doing is doing my job.”
