ELECTION/JOE BIDEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Hours after Joe Biden posted an online video announcing his 2020 White House bid, President Donald Trump responded on Twitter. ‘Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe,’ Trump taunted the former vice president on Thursday. ‘I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign.’ Trump’s insults were actually masking respect — and genuine concern about Biden’s potential to win, Trump advisers say…The conversations, relayed by a Republican strategist with direct knowledge of the interactions, reflect the president’s assessment that Biden poses the biggest threat to his re-election, uniquely capable of competing with him in the Rust Belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that carried him to victory in 2016. That may also be because, of the 20 Democrats running for president, none has quite as much in common with Trump as Joe Biden.”
–Eliana Johnson and John Bresnahan, “Trump’s Biden insults fueled by belief he can win,” Politico, April 25, 2019 7:59 pm