Often slammed for poor public-speaking skills, president Donald Trump is under immense pressure to do better than Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, whose powerful acceptance speech Thursday condemned him severely as an incompetent leader. Biden's speech was widely praised even by Republicans and right-wing media.
The Republican National Convention (RNC) will be held starting August 24. Media reports confirm it will be a virtual event similar to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) held from Aug. 17 to 20. The RNC will culminate on Aug. 27 with the GOP's presidential candidate, in this case Trump, acknowledging his party's nomination in an acceptance speech.
Trump now has the monumental task of speaking better and delivering a more powerful message than Biden, 77, whose acceptance speech was viewed by 122 million Americans, while eliciting very positive reviews.
Trump, 74, is often criticized for his monotonous sing-song tone of voice when delivering long speeches, and for a body language indicating boredom and indifference. He also mispronounces words.
Trump has repeatedly assailed Biden's alleged senility and poor mental acuity. Trump claims these maladies manifest in Biden's widely-known speaking gaffes. Biden, however, has long admitted he stutters.
By assailing Biden as a poor public speaker, Trump raised the bar for his upcoming acceptance speech. Before Biden spoke on Thursday, Trump predicted Biden would humiliate himself by mumbling his way through his speech.
Instead, Biden aced his acceptance speech to such an extent even conservatives called it the best speech Biden has ever given as a politician. Fox News host Chris Wallace said Biden delivered "an enormously effective speech." Fox News consistently airs videos of Biden struggling to speak effectively. He said these attacks on Biden are now irrelevant in light of Biden's speech Thursday.
"Remember, Donald Trump has been talking for months about Joe Biden as mentally shot ... I thought that he blew a hole, a big hole in that characterization," said Wallace.
Republican pollster Frank Luntz praised Biden's acceptance speech, saying Trump's foe succeeded in changing the narrative into one about Trump's competence and Trump the person. Poll after poll show most Americans blame Trump and his incompetence for the more than 5.6 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and 175,000 deaths.
Luntz said Democrats are trying to make this election a referendum on Donald Trump, not his policies, not the issues, but on Donald Trump himself.
Luntz said Biden is now in a strong position vis-à-vis Trump thanks to Biden's speech and the impressive DNC convention that went off without a major hitch. He does believe Biden is ahead, and that the challenges for Trump are significant.
Biden enjoys a huge 7.6% lead over Trump as to who Americans want as their next president based on an average of national polls compiled by poll aggregator, RealClearPolitics.
In his widely praised acceptance speech, Biden defined the coming presidential election as one between the forces of light (Biden) against the forces of dark (Trump). In other words, a contest between good and evil.
Without mentioning Trump by name even once, Biden said this president has "cloaked America in darkness for far too long." What Trump brings is "too much fear and division."
At the same time, the U.S. under Trump is grappling with rising inequity and shriking opportunity. Trump has failed at his number one responsibility, which is to protect American people.
Biden asked Americans to judge Trump on the facts, and the facts prove Trump's failure and incompetence as a leader. He said COVID-19 cases and deaths will remain far too high if Trump is reelected.
