If Donald Trump truly does not see Joe Biden as an existential threat, he sure has a funny way of showing it. The extremely chill president can’t seem to stop talking about the current Democratic frontrunner, firing off an extraordinary 60 tweets and retweets Wednesday lashing out at Uncle Joe—to the reported chagrin of some of his advisers, and the apparent delight of Biden himself. “I understand the president tweeted a lot about me this morning and for a while,” the Biden said at a campaign stop in Iowa Wednesday. “I wonder why the hell he’s doing that.”

Trump has insisted that he’s unfazed by Biden, quipping that the ex-veep is “only a threat to himself,” and bestowing upon him one of his trademark nicknames: “Sleepy” Joe. As is always the case with Trump, though, his actions betray his true feelings. Even before his unglued tweet storm, the president was taking shots at Biden’s intelligence and age. “I am a young, vibrant man,” Trump pronounced last week in what may be the least-true remark of his lie-filled presidency. “I look at Joe, I don’t know about him.”

Trump’s Twitter tantrum this week confirmed the obvious, and reportedly put a number of his advisers on edge. “I’ve personally asked him to stop,” one Trump adviser told Politico Wednesday. “It’s not helping us. It’s helping Biden.” The fear among aides is that Trump’s tweets legitimize Biden as an opponent. “We don’t think Biden can make it out of the woke Democrat primary,” the official said. “But he will if the president gives him oxygen.”

Others reportedly share this concern. Per Politico, Jared Kushner is among those who has argued that Trump’s constant attacks on Biden cement the perception that the former vice president has gotten under his skin. Instead of lashing out at opponents with idiotic attacks, Politico reported, Kushner is advocating for a “low drama, high confidence” approach to the president’s re-election campaign.

Unfortunately for Jared, Trump has always had those qualities in precisely the opposite proportions, bringing chaos to everything he touches and seemingly motivated by a debilitating insecurity. Some in Trump’s orbit, of course, see the president’s willingness to pound Biden early as a strength, rather than a weakness: “Why not weigh in and help frame the debate?” Jason Miller, one of Trump’s 2016 flunkies, told Politico. Others, however, worry the president’s obvious terror could be a turnoff. “He believes his tweets have power, but Biden just irritates him. I imagine at the end of the day he’ll move on to someone else. We hope he does,” a second Trump adviser told Politico. “I’m sure smart guys like Brad [Parscale] are telling him to stop this and he’s telling them to go fuck themselves.”

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