Yesterday, we went inside Donald Trump’s campaign for president, to understand how he’s trying to turn a mountain of legal trouble into a political advantage. Today, we turn to the re-election campaign of President Biden.

Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, explains why what looks like a record of accomplishment on paper, is turning out to be so difficult to campaign on.

Guest: Reid J. Epstein (https://www.nytimes.com/by/reid-j-epstein) , a politics correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In South Carolina, Democrats see a test of Biden’s appeal to Black voters (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/22/us/politics/biden-south-carolina-black-voters.html) .
• Political Memo: Should Biden really run again? He prolongs an awkward conversation (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/us/politics/biden-trump-gaffe-2024.html) .

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.