Maggie Haberman Says Trump Attacking Biden Over Democracy Because Team Knows It’s ‘Trouble Spot’ For Trump

New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman agreed ex-President Donald Trump is projecting when he attacks President Joe Biden as a threat to democracy, and told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins his team is pushing this attack because they know it’s a “trouble spot” for Trump.

Trump gave a speech in Iowa this past weekend that was so riddled with falsehoods that Fox News cut away from it to note the “many untruths.”

He also rolled out a new attack line, calling the president the “destroyer of American democracy” amid mounting accusations — in criminal courts and from news outlets — that Trump was, is, and will continue to be such a threat.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins and Haberman both agreed Trump’s attacks are trademark projection, but also a “concerted effort” by Trump’s team to push these attacks onto Biden.

Haberman said this “wasn’t just some impromptu ad-lib,” pointing out there were pre-printed signs at the event:

COLLINS: Maggie, but first off, on what you were hearing the Congressman talk about there, Trump now saying that Biden is the anti-democratic candidate in this race? I mean, how much of that is just this age-old habit that we have seen of his, of accusing his opponents, of what he himself stands accused of?

MAGGIE HABERMAN: There’s no question, Kaitlan.

COLLINS: Literally, in this case?

HABERMAN: Yes, we’ve seen him — we’ve seen him do that over and over. He did it with Hillary Clinton, in a debate, famously in 2016, where she called him a puppet of Putin. And he said, “No puppet, you’re the puppet.” I mean, this is whatever he gets tagged with, he pushes back on.

But I think your question is the right one, which is, why is he doing this now? And I do think that the Congressman is correct, that there are enough voters, in the country, who are concerned about — this is not concerned about the framing of stories — are concerned about Trump’s own actions, that when people talk about his efforts, to stay in power, when people talk about what happened, on January 6th, it’s not an especially helpful fact-set to Trump.

I think that his team is aware of that. And so, they are trying to put this back on Biden, because there are Trump supporters, who are upset that he was criminally charged.

Now, you can look at the various things he was criminally charged with, and decide whether you think that was necessary.

But he is trying to turn this in into how he is the victim, which we have seen over and over again.

COLLINS: Yes. And I should note, I mean, he’s not ad-libbing what we’re hearing, just off the cuff, in random interviews.

HABERMAN: No.

COLLINS: He’s reading off the — a teleprompter often. And Maggie, I mean, it seems to suggest this more concerted effort, to push back, on that charge. I mean, what do you make of whether or not–

HABERMAN: I think that–

COLLINS: –this is a more formal position he’s taking?

HABERMAN: Look, it certainly was the case, over the weekend, Kaitlan, when there were signs, at a Trump event, in Iowa, accusing Biden of attacking democracy that were on various seats. This wasn’t just some impromptu ad-lib. This is something that his team had thought about.

And again, to go back to what we said before, they’re clearly doing it for a reason. If this was not a trouble spot for him, if this was not a concern to voters, about Trump’s own behavior, and his own statements, they wouldn’t be doing it.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.

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