-I cannot in good conscience continue to mount
a campaign that cannot win.
-With Bernie Sanders out of the race,
the stage is officially set for President Trump
and former vice president Joe Biden
in the 2020 general election.
And it could be the most unusual election in modern history.
-2016 was a very unpredictable election.
2020 is shaping up to be a much more unpredictable approach
through electing a president.
-The coronavirus has already upended
much of the campaign process.
Almost overnight, traditional campaigning stopped
and the dynamics shifted.
-I am officially declaring a national emergency.
-President Trump became increasingly more visible
to the American public.
-Every day, Donald Trump has a prominent platform
using the White House briefing room.
-The advantages are clear for the president.
He gets sort of this unfiltered, long stretch of time
in which he gets to speak directly to the American public.
-And Trump hasn't shied away from using the briefings
to attack his political opponents
and journalists in the room.
-You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
You know what? You ought to be ashamed.
You didn't hear me. That's why you used to work
for The Times and now you work for somebody else.
And you know the answer's a lie.
You know that your statement's a lie.
-I could read you your full comment, sir, if that would --
-Let me just say -- -He has been thinking about his election.
He's talked about his political opponents.
He's talked about former vice president Joe Biden.
He has said that all of the Democrats
that are criticizing his response,
Democratic governors, he says that's all about politics
and trying to hurt him in the upcoming election.
So it is clear that, you know,
November and the election is on his mind,
and he's thinking about how to manage this crisis
in a way that does not harm his electoral chances.
-Meanwhile, Biden,
who's had virtual briefings with reporters,
started a newsletter,
a podcast -- -Hey, folks.
It's Joe, and we're listening to "Here's the Deal."
-And he's tried to connect with voters virtually.
-Joe Biden has been in a TV studio
that was rapidly built in his basement.
It is obviously not the same as the White House briefing room
and sort of the platform that that has.
The whole ecosystem revolves around Donald Trump,
and that's still true around the coronavirus.
-But Biden and the Democrats think there could be
some disadvantages to Trump having so much airtime.
-I mean, his campaign almost believes in some ways
that he doesn't have to do much right now.
They want Americans to see him as sort of a calming,
soothing force.
They think that people getting a long look at Trump
will sort of give people a sour taste
at how Trump has handled it.
-Every one of these doctors said,
"How do you know so much about this?"
Maybe I have a natural ability.
-A number of the Democratic super PACs
are putting out ads
really criticizing the President for what he said.
They've really used his own words,
and they've compared what he's been saying --
-When you have 15 people and within a couple of days
is going to be down to close to zero.
We really think we've done a great job --
-But the President has had a significant head start
when it comes to fundraising.
In February, Trump's campaign
and the Republican National Committee
had raised around $225 million.
Biden's campaign only had $12 million on hand,
and coronavirus has made it harder to close the gap.
-Fundraising, just like everything else,
has been rocked by this coronavirus.
And it came really at a moment where Joe Biden was starting
to capture the Democratic nomination.
-They don't call it Super Tuesday for nothing.
-Super Tuesday, the weeks after that,
was like the best fundraising period of his campaign.
He started to get some momentum, you know, and then this happens.
Everybody's staying at home.
-Prior to the pandemic, Trump's top campaign message
was on how well the economy was performing.
-Because I have created such an incredible economy.
I have created so many jobs.
-If Trump continues to run on an issue
that is no longer a strength for him,
that could affect things in the general election,
and that could affect his standing.
We don't really know yet, because polling can change,
and we haven't reached a full effect of this coronavirus
yet likely economically.
It's unclear who people will blame
for the economy not doing well.
Are they going to hold Trump at fault?
We don't know that yet.
-Hearing that the unemployment rate,
which has already gone up to 4.
4%, may be actually as high as 10%,
where the President's talked about saying
this will all bounce back.
This is all short term.
This is an artificial recession.
But it's not clear that by the time we get to November
that the economy will be back to where it was
before this pandemic, and the President will have
to deal with that in terms of his messaging.
-For all the uncertainty,
Trump has continued to express confidence
that the Republican convention, slated for the end of August,
will go ahead as planned.
-He's still pledging that they're gonna have it
in North Carolina in mid-August.
It's a little bit easier for Trump,
just 'cause he's an incumbent president.
-Democrats have already postponed their convention,
originally scheduled for July.
-But that's very much tentative.
Even Joe Biden is still talking about the possibility
of a virtual convention
or some other form of holding a convention.
Is it a speech of Joe Biden in his basement, in this studio,
with his, you know, family bookshelf behind him?
You know, like --
that does not exactly capture the gravity of the moment.
-The coronavirus has changed almost every aspect
of American life.
How it will change the race for the White House
remains an open question.
-If you could sum it up in one word,
the state of the race right now is --
-If I'm thinking of it as Biden and Trump,
I think the word is "uncertain."
-In flux.
No one knows what's gonna happen.
I'd say it's a very much unpredictable moment.
There's no precedent for this.
And because of that,
it's unlike anything we would have predicted,
and it could go a number of different ways.