Trump targets Biden's mental health in debate lead-up, despite aides' efforts to raise expectations
The president has eschewed typical debate prep instead meeting with advisers.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-targets-bidens-mental-health-debate-lead-aides/story?id=73264525

President Donald Trump is set to enter the first presidential debate on Tuesday down in the polls, but coming off the high of nominating his third Supreme Court justice. Some top advisers expect a dominant performance by the president, despite the opposing narratives of attacks on Joe Biden's mental state and the Trump campaign's work to raise expectations for the Democrat ahead of the showdown.

With days to go the debate, Trump has carried out conflicting and confounding strategies both repeatedly targeting Biden's mental acuity, claiming at a recent rally he doesn't know he's alive, while also making passing attempts to boost the former vice president as a seasoned debater who could outshine him.

"This guy doesn't have a clue. He doesn't know where the hell he is," Trump told his supporters in Pittsburgh a week to the day before the first debate. "This guy doesn't know he's alive."

At a campaign rally Saturday night in Pennsylvania, the president both attacked Biden as "dumb" before immediately lauding him as an experienced debater. "He’s a dumb guy. Always known as a dumb guy. But we look forward to seeing him in the debate. He's got a lot more experience. He's got 47 years. I’ve got 3 1/2 years. So we'll see. But he's got 47 years of experience."

On Friday, the president delivered an extended attack on Biden, comparing the showdown to a boxing match while repeatedly pointing to his head and saying, "To win matches you need that up here. ... This wins, probably, it's 50% of it. ... It's great that it's that way, isn't it?"

"[Biden's] not exactly prime time. ... This is not prime time for Joe. He never had too much of a prime time," the president added.