Leroy N. Soetoro
2024-06-01 23:21:06 UTC
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/democrats-freakout-over-biden-
00160047
A pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the
Democratic Party over President Joe Bidens reelection prospects, even
among officeholders and strategists who had previously expressed
confidence about the coming battle with Donald Trump.
All year, Democrats had been on a joyless and exhausting grind through the
2024 election. But now, nearly five months from the election, anxiety has
morphed into palpable trepidation, according to more than a dozen party
leaders and operatives. And the gap between what Democrats will say on TV
or in print, and what theyll text their friends, has only grown as
worries have surged about Bidens prospects.
You dont want to be that guy who is on the record saying were doomed,
or the campaigns bad or Bidens making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that
guy, said a Democratic operative in close touch with the White House and
granted anonymity to speak freely.
But Bidens stubbornly poor polling and the stakes of the election are
creating the freakout, he said.
This isnt, Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president. Its Oh my
God, the democracy might end.
Despite everything, Trump is running ahead of Biden in most battleground
states. He raised far more money in April, and the landscape may only
become worse for Democrats, with Trumps hush-money trial concluding and
another this one involving the presidents son set to begin in
Delaware.
The concern has metastasized in recent days as Trump jaunted to some of
the countrys most liberal territories, including New Jersey and New York,
to woo Hispanic and Black voters as he boasted, improbably, that he would
win in those areas.
While hes long lagged Biden in cash on hand, Trumps fundraising outpaced
the presidents by $25 million last month, and included a record-setting
$50.5 million haul from an event in Palm Beach, Florida. One adviser to
major Democratic Party donors provided a running list that has been shared
with funders of nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose, ranging
from immigration and high inflation to the presidents age, the
unpopularity of Vice President Kamala Harris and the presence of third-
party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Donors ask me on an hourly basis about what I think, the adviser said,
calling it so much easier to show them, so while they read it, I can pour
a drink.
The adviser added, The list of why we could win is so small I dont
even need to keep the list on my phone.
On the day after news broke that Biden had trailed Trump in fundraising
last month, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey raised the pressure on donors
as she introduced the president to a crowd of 300.
The cluster of fundraising events Biden attended in Boston that day were
expected to bring in more than $6 million for his political operation. But
Healey said that wasnt good enough.
To those of you who opened up your wallets, thank you, said Healey, a
Democrat in her first term. Wed like you to open them up a little bit
more and to find more patriots more patriots who believe in this
country, who recognize and understand the challenge presented at this
time.
Laughter rippled through the room. But Healeys voice turned serious. With
unusual urgency for Healey, the governor implored the room of high-dollar
donors and local Democratic leaders to think long and hard about the
stakes of the election.
There have been few moments in Bidens term as president that havent been
second-guessed, and his aides have made sport of sneering at grim
predictions, compiling dossiers of headlines and clips in which the
president was underestimated. Biden campaign aides and allies point to
some positive polls, including in the battlegrounds, and Trumps
comparative lack of campaigning and infrastructure in the key states,
including staff, organizing programs and advertising.
A Biden campaign adviser granted anonymity to speak freely stressed that
the presidents team never made any indication that Trumps hush-money
trial would help or hurt him. Instead, the adviser contended that
Trump will be forced to defend cutting back abortion rights, attacking
democracy and advancing corporate interests as president.
MOST READ
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DeSantis says Trump can still vote in Florida despite felony conviction
Trumps photo-ops and PR stunts may get under the skin of some very
serious D.C. people as compelling campaigning, but they will do nothing to
win over the voters that will decide this election, Biden campaign
spokesperson Kevin Munoz told POLITICO. The work we do every day on the
ground and on the airwaves in our battleground states to talk about how
President Biden is fighting for the middle class against the corporate
greed thats keeping prices high, and highlight Donald Trumps anti-
American campaign for revenge and retribution and abortion bans is the
work that will again secure us the White House.
Biden supporters who remain optimistic say theyd rather be him than
Trump, before rallying around abortion and issues of reproductive rights,
which Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat, called a fundamental game-
changer.
We have to run a campaign, where honestly, we drive home the message that
Donald Trump takes us back to the 19th century. Biden takes us further
into the 21st century, Kildee said.
He did not remark on whether such a campaign is being run, or run to his
satisfaction.
A lot can happen between now and then, acknowledged Rep. Ann Kuster, a
Democrat from New Hampshire, who is retiring after the fall election. She,
too, pointed to eroding abortion rights under the conservative-led Supreme
Court remade by Trump. I know a significant number of voters are going to
be motivated by the Dobbs decision.
Tracking Bidens $1.6 trillion climate and infrastructure spending plans
TECHNOLOGY
I dont know how this happened: A $3B secret program undermining Bidens
tech policy
By CHRISTINE MUI
INVESTIGATION
Bidens biggest challenge: How do you even spend $1.6 trillion?
By JESSIE BLAESER, BENJAMIN STORROW, KELSEY TAMBORRINO, ZACK COLMAN and
DAVID FERRIS
But Democratic critics of the campaigns approach while agreeing that
abortion should be a winning issue said theyre challenged when pressed
by friends to make the case for why Biden will win.
Theres still a path to win this, but they dont look like a campaign
thats embarking on that path right now, said Pete Giangreco, a longtime
Democratic strategist whos worked on multiple presidential campaigns. If
the frame of this race is, What was better, the 3.5 years under Biden or
four years under Trump, we lose that every day of the week and twice on
Sunday.
In the swing state of Michigan, Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky
suggested Bidens standing is so tenuous that down-ballot Democrats cant
rely in November on the top of the ticket to pull us along.
In 2020, there was enough energy to get Donald Trump out and there were
other things on the ballot that brought young people out in subsequent
elections.
She said, Thats not the case this time. I worry that because weve had
four years with a stable White House, particularly young voters dont feel
that sense of urgency and might not remember how disastrous 2017 was right
after the Trump administration took over.
Whatever the Biden campaign has been doing over the past two months and
its a lot of activity, including $25 million in swing-state ad spending,
according to AdImpact it has had only a limited effect. According to
FiveThirtyEight, Bidens average job-approval rating on March 7, the date
of his State of the Union Address, was 38.1 percent. As of Friday, its
38.4 percent.
And his standing against Trump has also changed little. On April 22, the
day Trumps criminal trial began, the presumptive GOP nominee held a 0.3-
point lead in national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump is up
about a point since then, currently leading Biden by 1.4 points in the
FiveThirtyEight average.
Asked about polling, Munoz said: The only metric that will define the
success of this campaign is Election Day.
Trump, meanwhile, has already started his incursion into safe blue states.
His campaigns psychological warfare in New York, California and New
Jersey where House districts will determine control of Congress lower
chamber is spiking Democrats already-elevated blood pressure.
New York Democrats need to wake up, said Manhattan Borough President
Mark Levine. The number of people in New York, including people of color
that I come across who are saying positive things about Trump, is
alarming.
Bidens weaker numbers bear that out. A Siena College poll released
Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump in New York by only 9 points 47 to
38 percent among registered voters. Four years ago, Biden won the state by
23 points. The president is under water with every demographic delineated
in the poll other than Black voters. Fifty-three percent of Latinos and
54 percent of whites reported having an unfavorable opinion of him. To
that end, Biden released TV and radio ads in the Empire State on Thursday,
ahead of Trumps campaign rally in the Bronx.
Levine has been something of a Paul Revere in New York, sounding alarms
two years ago when a Trump-aligned Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lee
Zeldin, appeared to be gaining on Kathy Hochul, the moderate Democratic
incumbent. Hochul narrowly held him off.
Im worried its going to be a 2022 situation, where everyone wakes up in
the last seven weeks and has to scramble, Levine said of his state, which
hasnt swung to the GOP since Ronald Reagan in 1980.
This cycle, Democrats also have to contend with the war in Ukraine and the
conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has deeply divided their ranks
and contributed to a sense of chaos. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York
Democrat known for his ardent defense of Israel, was similarly concerned
for his party, though he pointed to the higher cost of groceries and goods
that started during the pandemic and has yet to abate.
The greatest political challenge confronting the president starts with an
i, but its not Israel, its inflation, Torres said. The cost of
living is a challenge that we have to figure out how to manage.
He said Biden should focus on issues around affordability and continue to
tout his success in capping insulin costs in areas with high rates of
diabetes, like his Bronx district.
The election is more competitive than it should be, given the
wretchedness of who Donald Trump is, he said. In a properly functioning
democracy, Donald Trump should have no viable path to the presidency. The
fact of a competitive race is cause for concern.
Trump has railed against blue-state officials, starting with the justice
system in New York. In California, he dispatched his daughter-in-law,
Lara, and one of his sons, Eric, to hold up the West Coasts Democratic
heavyweight as a cautionary tale.
Im sorry you have to live in communism, Eric Trump said Wednesday at
the Stampede, a country music venue in Temecula, an inland community
between Los Angeles and San Diego. Trump casually dismissed California
Democrat Gavin Newsom as the nations worst governor.
Make no mistake, Trump said, there is a war happening in this country.
The elder Trump is set to appear in early June at the San Francisco
fundraiser hosted by tech investor David Sacks and his wife, Jacqueline, a
clothing brand executive, along with venture capitalist Chamath
Palihapitiya.
Palihapitiyas past political donations run the gamut, from Elizabeth
Warren to a super PAC supporting Kennedy Jr. He also gave to the recall
committee against Newsom in 2021 and briefly considered running for
governor. Silicon Valleys red pilling has brought even more unwanted
national attention on issues of open-air drug use, homeless encampments
and gangs of thieves who ransack retail stores across the Bay Area.
And as in New York, California Democrats are bracing for more incoming
from Trump.
San Francisco has changed with the taxpayers, the job creators, the tech
CEOs who want to engage with the city and its politics, said Harmeet
Dhillon, the RNC committee member from California.
Dhillon was reflecting on her run-ins with Democrats in the city, where
she spent years leading the local GOP before her law firm represented
Trump in legal fights to remain on state ballots. Few Democrats are
willing to confide in Dhillon about their fears, she conceded, but no one
is sharing a sense of enthusiasm for Biden, either.
The most diplomatic thing I hear from Democrats is, Oh my God, are these
the choices we have for president?
Lisa Kashinsky, Steven Shepard, Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu contributed
to this report.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
00160047
A pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the
Democratic Party over President Joe Bidens reelection prospects, even
among officeholders and strategists who had previously expressed
confidence about the coming battle with Donald Trump.
All year, Democrats had been on a joyless and exhausting grind through the
2024 election. But now, nearly five months from the election, anxiety has
morphed into palpable trepidation, according to more than a dozen party
leaders and operatives. And the gap between what Democrats will say on TV
or in print, and what theyll text their friends, has only grown as
worries have surged about Bidens prospects.
You dont want to be that guy who is on the record saying were doomed,
or the campaigns bad or Bidens making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that
guy, said a Democratic operative in close touch with the White House and
granted anonymity to speak freely.
But Bidens stubbornly poor polling and the stakes of the election are
creating the freakout, he said.
This isnt, Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president. Its Oh my
God, the democracy might end.
Despite everything, Trump is running ahead of Biden in most battleground
states. He raised far more money in April, and the landscape may only
become worse for Democrats, with Trumps hush-money trial concluding and
another this one involving the presidents son set to begin in
Delaware.
The concern has metastasized in recent days as Trump jaunted to some of
the countrys most liberal territories, including New Jersey and New York,
to woo Hispanic and Black voters as he boasted, improbably, that he would
win in those areas.
While hes long lagged Biden in cash on hand, Trumps fundraising outpaced
the presidents by $25 million last month, and included a record-setting
$50.5 million haul from an event in Palm Beach, Florida. One adviser to
major Democratic Party donors provided a running list that has been shared
with funders of nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose, ranging
from immigration and high inflation to the presidents age, the
unpopularity of Vice President Kamala Harris and the presence of third-
party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Donors ask me on an hourly basis about what I think, the adviser said,
calling it so much easier to show them, so while they read it, I can pour
a drink.
The adviser added, The list of why we could win is so small I dont
even need to keep the list on my phone.
On the day after news broke that Biden had trailed Trump in fundraising
last month, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey raised the pressure on donors
as she introduced the president to a crowd of 300.
The cluster of fundraising events Biden attended in Boston that day were
expected to bring in more than $6 million for his political operation. But
Healey said that wasnt good enough.
To those of you who opened up your wallets, thank you, said Healey, a
Democrat in her first term. Wed like you to open them up a little bit
more and to find more patriots more patriots who believe in this
country, who recognize and understand the challenge presented at this
time.
Laughter rippled through the room. But Healeys voice turned serious. With
unusual urgency for Healey, the governor implored the room of high-dollar
donors and local Democratic leaders to think long and hard about the
stakes of the election.
There have been few moments in Bidens term as president that havent been
second-guessed, and his aides have made sport of sneering at grim
predictions, compiling dossiers of headlines and clips in which the
president was underestimated. Biden campaign aides and allies point to
some positive polls, including in the battlegrounds, and Trumps
comparative lack of campaigning and infrastructure in the key states,
including staff, organizing programs and advertising.
A Biden campaign adviser granted anonymity to speak freely stressed that
the presidents team never made any indication that Trumps hush-money
trial would help or hurt him. Instead, the adviser contended that
Trump will be forced to defend cutting back abortion rights, attacking
democracy and advancing corporate interests as president.
MOST READ
Screenshot 2024-05-31 at 8.44.11 AM.png
22 Experts Predict What the Trump Conviction Will Mean for 2024 and Beyond
Donald Trumps long road of legal troubles may end here
Trump Bungled the Trial
Guilt Complex: Trumps Felony Convictions Are a Big Political Problem
DeSantis says Trump can still vote in Florida despite felony conviction
Trumps photo-ops and PR stunts may get under the skin of some very
serious D.C. people as compelling campaigning, but they will do nothing to
win over the voters that will decide this election, Biden campaign
spokesperson Kevin Munoz told POLITICO. The work we do every day on the
ground and on the airwaves in our battleground states to talk about how
President Biden is fighting for the middle class against the corporate
greed thats keeping prices high, and highlight Donald Trumps anti-
American campaign for revenge and retribution and abortion bans is the
work that will again secure us the White House.
Biden supporters who remain optimistic say theyd rather be him than
Trump, before rallying around abortion and issues of reproductive rights,
which Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat, called a fundamental game-
changer.
We have to run a campaign, where honestly, we drive home the message that
Donald Trump takes us back to the 19th century. Biden takes us further
into the 21st century, Kildee said.
He did not remark on whether such a campaign is being run, or run to his
satisfaction.
A lot can happen between now and then, acknowledged Rep. Ann Kuster, a
Democrat from New Hampshire, who is retiring after the fall election. She,
too, pointed to eroding abortion rights under the conservative-led Supreme
Court remade by Trump. I know a significant number of voters are going to
be motivated by the Dobbs decision.
Tracking Bidens $1.6 trillion climate and infrastructure spending plans
TECHNOLOGY
I dont know how this happened: A $3B secret program undermining Bidens
tech policy
By CHRISTINE MUI
INVESTIGATION
Bidens biggest challenge: How do you even spend $1.6 trillion?
By JESSIE BLAESER, BENJAMIN STORROW, KELSEY TAMBORRINO, ZACK COLMAN and
DAVID FERRIS
But Democratic critics of the campaigns approach while agreeing that
abortion should be a winning issue said theyre challenged when pressed
by friends to make the case for why Biden will win.
Theres still a path to win this, but they dont look like a campaign
thats embarking on that path right now, said Pete Giangreco, a longtime
Democratic strategist whos worked on multiple presidential campaigns. If
the frame of this race is, What was better, the 3.5 years under Biden or
four years under Trump, we lose that every day of the week and twice on
Sunday.
In the swing state of Michigan, Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky
suggested Bidens standing is so tenuous that down-ballot Democrats cant
rely in November on the top of the ticket to pull us along.
In 2020, there was enough energy to get Donald Trump out and there were
other things on the ballot that brought young people out in subsequent
elections.
She said, Thats not the case this time. I worry that because weve had
four years with a stable White House, particularly young voters dont feel
that sense of urgency and might not remember how disastrous 2017 was right
after the Trump administration took over.
Whatever the Biden campaign has been doing over the past two months and
its a lot of activity, including $25 million in swing-state ad spending,
according to AdImpact it has had only a limited effect. According to
FiveThirtyEight, Bidens average job-approval rating on March 7, the date
of his State of the Union Address, was 38.1 percent. As of Friday, its
38.4 percent.
And his standing against Trump has also changed little. On April 22, the
day Trumps criminal trial began, the presumptive GOP nominee held a 0.3-
point lead in national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump is up
about a point since then, currently leading Biden by 1.4 points in the
FiveThirtyEight average.
Asked about polling, Munoz said: The only metric that will define the
success of this campaign is Election Day.
Trump, meanwhile, has already started his incursion into safe blue states.
His campaigns psychological warfare in New York, California and New
Jersey where House districts will determine control of Congress lower
chamber is spiking Democrats already-elevated blood pressure.
New York Democrats need to wake up, said Manhattan Borough President
Mark Levine. The number of people in New York, including people of color
that I come across who are saying positive things about Trump, is
alarming.
Bidens weaker numbers bear that out. A Siena College poll released
Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump in New York by only 9 points 47 to
38 percent among registered voters. Four years ago, Biden won the state by
23 points. The president is under water with every demographic delineated
in the poll other than Black voters. Fifty-three percent of Latinos and
54 percent of whites reported having an unfavorable opinion of him. To
that end, Biden released TV and radio ads in the Empire State on Thursday,
ahead of Trumps campaign rally in the Bronx.
Levine has been something of a Paul Revere in New York, sounding alarms
two years ago when a Trump-aligned Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lee
Zeldin, appeared to be gaining on Kathy Hochul, the moderate Democratic
incumbent. Hochul narrowly held him off.
Im worried its going to be a 2022 situation, where everyone wakes up in
the last seven weeks and has to scramble, Levine said of his state, which
hasnt swung to the GOP since Ronald Reagan in 1980.
This cycle, Democrats also have to contend with the war in Ukraine and the
conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has deeply divided their ranks
and contributed to a sense of chaos. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York
Democrat known for his ardent defense of Israel, was similarly concerned
for his party, though he pointed to the higher cost of groceries and goods
that started during the pandemic and has yet to abate.
The greatest political challenge confronting the president starts with an
i, but its not Israel, its inflation, Torres said. The cost of
living is a challenge that we have to figure out how to manage.
He said Biden should focus on issues around affordability and continue to
tout his success in capping insulin costs in areas with high rates of
diabetes, like his Bronx district.
The election is more competitive than it should be, given the
wretchedness of who Donald Trump is, he said. In a properly functioning
democracy, Donald Trump should have no viable path to the presidency. The
fact of a competitive race is cause for concern.
Trump has railed against blue-state officials, starting with the justice
system in New York. In California, he dispatched his daughter-in-law,
Lara, and one of his sons, Eric, to hold up the West Coasts Democratic
heavyweight as a cautionary tale.
Im sorry you have to live in communism, Eric Trump said Wednesday at
the Stampede, a country music venue in Temecula, an inland community
between Los Angeles and San Diego. Trump casually dismissed California
Democrat Gavin Newsom as the nations worst governor.
Make no mistake, Trump said, there is a war happening in this country.
The elder Trump is set to appear in early June at the San Francisco
fundraiser hosted by tech investor David Sacks and his wife, Jacqueline, a
clothing brand executive, along with venture capitalist Chamath
Palihapitiya.
Palihapitiyas past political donations run the gamut, from Elizabeth
Warren to a super PAC supporting Kennedy Jr. He also gave to the recall
committee against Newsom in 2021 and briefly considered running for
governor. Silicon Valleys red pilling has brought even more unwanted
national attention on issues of open-air drug use, homeless encampments
and gangs of thieves who ransack retail stores across the Bay Area.
And as in New York, California Democrats are bracing for more incoming
from Trump.
San Francisco has changed with the taxpayers, the job creators, the tech
CEOs who want to engage with the city and its politics, said Harmeet
Dhillon, the RNC committee member from California.
Dhillon was reflecting on her run-ins with Democrats in the city, where
she spent years leading the local GOP before her law firm represented
Trump in legal fights to remain on state ballots. Few Democrats are
willing to confide in Dhillon about their fears, she conceded, but no one
is sharing a sense of enthusiasm for Biden, either.
The most diplomatic thing I hear from Democrats is, Oh my God, are these
the choices we have for president?
Lisa Kashinsky, Steven Shepard, Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu contributed
to this report.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.