GOP strategist: Donald Trump is morphing into Joe Biden | Opinion

Joe Biden left behind an economy on the brink of disaster — weighed down by record debt, rising interest rates, and families still feeling the pinch of high prices.

But here’s the problem for Republicans: over the last 11 months, President Donald Trump embarked on an anti–free market, protectionist crusade that’s made things worse. His trade wars and tariffs haven’t fixed what Democrats broke, they’ve compounded it. They aren’t strengthening America — they’re driving up costs, fueling inflation, and squeezing families even harder.

His prime-time address to the nation was supposed to be a reset - a chance to talk honestly about affordability and make his case to the American people.

Instead?

We got full-blown Biden-era gaslighting on the economy. The exact same delusional messaging that destroyed Democrats in 2024.

The speech itself was a hot mess. Manic. Combative. Nearly 19 minutes of shouting at the nation, offering a masterclass in what not to do in a prime-time Presidential address: deny reality, blame everyone else, and accept zero responsibility.

Clearly, the White House hoped this would be a pivot - a quiet admission that affordability is a real problem. Vice President JD Vance delivered a strong speech on the economy this week, and the message was unmistakable. Republican members of Congress fanned out across cable news, all suddenly talking about affordability. But for some reason, the President just wants to die on the hill that affordability is a con job.

These are self-inflicted wounds — entirely unnecessary and entirely avoidable.

That’s what we saw with Trump’s vile remarks about Rob Reiner. No decent or reasonable person would write something like that in the aftermath of a brutal killing. A brutal murder is not the moment to settle political scores.

And please, for the love of GOD, stop dismissing bad behavior as just a mean tweet. This wasn’t an isolate incident. At times, it feels less like leadership and more like the crazy uncle at thanksgiving — loud, angry, and saying weird stuff.

There is also a growing sense of déjà vu — like Trump is morphing into Biden.

This isn’t merely about age, though that conversation is unavoidable. Biden was 79 in December of 2021. Trump is now 79 as well. And like Biden, we see stories of Trump falling asleep during meetings enough times that Saturday Night Live is poking fun at it.

And even the pushback sounds eerily familiar. When House Majority Leader Steve Scalise says, “He’s the hardest-working president,” it sounded a lot like former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre when she said, “I can’t even keep up with him,”

Then there’s the Vanity Fair interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Wiles isn’t a lightweight. She’s a seasoned, disciplined political operative - widely respected and careful with her words. Nothing she says publicly is accidental.

While headlines fixated on her description of Trump as having “an alcoholic’s personality,” or her admission that he takes retribution whenever the opportunity presents itself — confirmations of what many already suspected — that wasn’t the most important part.

What matters is this: when someone as respected as Wiles offered unusually blunt characterizations of the president and other senior officials — it signals the same kind of institutional strain Americans saw under Biden.

Look, America has now suffered through two aging presidents and the lingering questions about their health. That should concern us regardless of party.

There’s a line in The American President — a Rob Reiner movie — where Michael J. Fox’s character reminds the president: “In this country, it is not only permissible to question our leaders, it’s our responsibility.”

That idea is deeply American, and deeply conservative.

Asking hard questions about a president’s ability to do the job — even when that president is Trump — isn’t disloyalty. It’s patriotism. We must meet this moment with clear eyes, steady judgment, and a commitment to the principles that have always kept this republic strong. That’s how you defend a nation.

Matt Wylie is a S.C.-based Republican political strategist and analyst with over 25 years of experience working on federal, state and local campaigns.

This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 5:34 AM with the headline "GOP strategist: Donald Trump is morphing into Joe Biden | Opinion."