Why Trump is happy to start running against Joe Biden now

And why it might just backfire

President Trump and Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Charly Triballeau - Pool/Getty Images, Spencer Platt/Getty Images, artishokcs/iStock)

Presidential primary cycles keep getting longer and longer. So perhaps it's not surprising that general election cycles are stretching out too. This month President Trump has taken aim at the early front-runner for the nomination to challenge him, singling out former vice president Joe Biden for attack while largely ignoring the rest of the Democratic field.

Over this past weekend alone, Trump delightedly related to his Twitter followers that North Korea had called Biden "a low IQ individual," later clarifying that the direct quote was "low IQ idiot." Trump also stirred the pot over "Sleepy Joe Biden's" role in passing the 1994 crime bill, calling it "a dark period in American History," taking credit for fixing the legislation with his criminal justice reform project and telling Biden that "African Americans will not be able to vote for you."

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Edward Morrissey

Edward Morrissey has been writing about politics since 2003 in his blog, Captain's Quarters, and now writes for HotAir.com. His columns have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Post, The New York Sun, the Washington Times, and other newspapers. Morrissey has a daily Internet talk show on politics and culture at Hot Air. Since 2004, Morrissey has had a weekend talk radio show in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and often fills in as a guest on Salem Radio Network's nationally-syndicated shows. He lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, and his two granddaughters. Morrissey's new book, GOING RED, will be published by Crown Forum on April 5, 2016.