President Joe Biden is taking a page out of former President Donald Trump‘s book in an effort to unsettle his rival.

During Biden’s speech at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Biden smiled as he took a swipe at his likely Republican opponent, calling him a “loser.” Since then, the president has called Trump “the former president” and saying “he’s already Herbert Hoover.” Trump has previously said he doesn’t want an economic crash on his hands because he doesn’t want to be like the 31st president.

When Trump won the Iowa caucuses, Biden was also sure to make that the point that, “I’m still the only person to beat Donald Trump.”

Sources close to Trump told CNN that Trump is doing exactly what Biden’s going for — paying attention.

“I do think he’s trying to get under his skin, and I think it’s the smartest thing the Biden campaign has done yet,” a person close to Trump told the outlet. “It rattles him and takes him off message.”

“Loser” is at the top of the campaign’s attacks, which Biden’s aides say is a good move to promote the Democrats’ core message of 2024.

“It is Donald Trump who continues to deny the truth about the 2020 election. We are stating facts: Joe Biden is a winner. He won that one. Donald Trump is a loser. He lost that one,” senior Biden campaign adviser T.J. Ducklo said. “So us calling him a loser is simply a response to an issue that he continues to raise himself.”

Trump leads Biden in several battleground states, including in states he carried against the former president in 2020. Democratic lawmakers have said Biden’s loss of support among voters, especially minority voters, can be attributed to the president’s poor messaging.

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By attacking Trump’s character, the president and his campaign are hoping to rattle a man known for keeping tabs on his own coverage.

Biden is “not doing it just for the sake of making Donald Trump mad or for the satisfaction of punching him in the nose. He’s doing it because it takes the conversation about the campaign to a place that’s good for him,” Kate Bedingfield, who served as deputy campaign manager for Biden in 2020 and later as his communications director, told CNN.