Biden called Obama adviser David Axelrod a ‘pr***’ for questioning whether he should run again in 2024 after dire polls showed him losing to Trump
- President Joe Biden called Obama adviser David Axelrod a ‘pr***’ for questioning whether he should run again in 2024
- Politico reported that diss Monday, as part of a story on advice Democrats had for the president to turn around his struggling campaign
- Axelrod had questioned whether it ‘wise’ for Biden to run because he can’t change his biggest liability – his age
President Joe Biden called Obama adviser David Axelrod a ‘pr***’ for questioning whether he should run again in 2024 after polls showed him trailing former President Donald Trump in five of six key swing states.
Politico said Monday that Biden uttered the Axelrod diss after Obama’s top campaign strategist mused on X whether it was ‘wise’ to seek a second term when one of his biggest liabilities – his age – isn’t something that can be fixed.
Axelrod had said the ‘stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore,’ characterizing Trump as a ‘dangerous, unhinged demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, norms, laws and institutions or democracy should be disqualifying.’
The Obama White House alum also advised Biden to consider whether he’s running for reelection for himself or the good of the country.
Either way, the president has said he’s running, and so Democratic allies gave Politico some advice on how he can bolster his chances against Trump, who’s leading the Republican primary race.
President Joe Biden (left) called former President Barack Obama’s longtime adviser David Axelrod (right) a ‘pr***’ after he suggested that Biden might think twice about continuing on with his reelection bid
Among the things Axelrod said that annoyed the president was the suggestion that Biden might be running for a second term because it’s in ‘HIS best interest’ and not the country’s
One such way, they said, was to bring another Obama White House alum back stateside – the current ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel.
‘Doing so would demonstrate a willingness by Biden to broaden his inner circle, create a manic urgency in the campaign that is Emanuel’s trademark and, by elevating one of the most ferocious operatives of our times, signal that when Trump goes low the Democrats will go f***ing lower,’ the piece, written by Jonathan Martin, said.
Emanuel, who served as Obama’s first White House chief of staff before becoming mayor of Chicago, is known for his hard-knuckled brand of politics, stuff that turned into urban legend.
He once sent a dead fish in a box to a pollster, a scene that was recreated on The West Wing, using Josh Lyman’s character.
Martin’s sources also suggested that Biden tap Bill and Hillary Clinton to take on roles as high-level enjoys to the Middle East, as the war between Israel and Hamas could distract from the goal of winning a second term.
The allies criticized Biden for not taking Rep. Dean Phillips’ threat to primary him seriously.
Phillips, a Minnesota moderate, has argued that Biden won’t win against Trump, especially without Democratic competition, and launched a White House bid last month.
Allies urged Biden not to make that mistake again.
Sen. Joe Manchin, another moderate Democrat, announced Thursday that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection to the upper chamber, which opens the door for him to seek the White House on a No Labels ticket.
Politico’s sources said that Biden ‘smother Manchin with kindness and keep him in the Democratic tent.’
‘While he’s at it, the president and his top aides should also woo Manchin’s Republican friend (and third-party temptress) Mitt Romney,’ they said.
Biden, they said, should also reach out to former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in a ‘Republicans Against Trump’ or ‘Republicans for Biden’ effort.
She might have the clout to bring her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and President George W. Bush to Biden’s side.
Biden’s allies also said that the campaign needed to make use of the next generation of Democratic leaders as surrogates.
‘Some of these would-be candidates are coming to the GOP debates, but that’s not nearly enough,’ the story advised.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, was the spokesperson for the Biden campaign during the GOP debate in his state in late September.
‘The governors, the senators, the cabinet secretaries and the infrastructure czar should be the faces of Biden’s campaign, along with the president and vice-president,’ the Democrats Politico talked to said.
‘The message: with Democrats remaining in power, it’s not just an 82-year-old at the helm but also this group – Team Normal when compared to Trump and his Star Wars bar term two,’ the story said.
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