AXIOS: BIDEN STAFF “MISERABLE,” ALARMED AS PRESSURE BUILDS.
Many White House, Biden campaign and Democratic officials are increasingly worried that President Biden isn’t up to continuing his campaign or finishing a second term, despite his insistence that he won’t be pushed out.
Why it matters: Outside pressure for Biden to drop his re-election bid grew wider and louder on the Fourth of July, especially from major donors. Doubts also are rising inside the house.
The big picture: “Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole,” a White House official told Axios. “Even if you’re trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment” from bosses.
-
A high-ranking Democratic National Committee official told Axios: “The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he’s capable of running this campaign.”
-
“Everything else feels like ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ by his inner circle to prop him up.”
Spotted by Ed Morrissey yesterday, Axios also noted that ‘The President Has Lost All Independence.’ Ed responded:
Have readers ever heard of Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, or Ashley Williams? I’ve worked in politics for over 20 years now, and only Williams’ name seems vaguely familiar. Only Bernal’s name comes up in our archives, once almost exactly two years ago and only as brief mention in someone else’s statement. Presidents hire aides to help and support their work, but those aides are supposed to work for the president, not run him.
It almost makes the sudden appearance of Hunter Biden in policy meetings look explicable. Why else would Biden have “a convicted felon” in meetings with officials? Is it to break through a cabal of aides desperately trying to keep Biden’s incapacitation under wraps?
Meanwhile, here’s Ben Smith at Semafor: A ‘scared’ Biden aide sounds an alarm.
Midday on the Fourth of July, I received a call from a government official with regular access to the West Wing, who said they had reached a breaking point and wanted to sound the alarm.
The person insisted on careful ground rules: No details on the specific policy area they’d work on, no gender, age, or sexual orientation. Their credibility basically depends on my vouching that they’re a serious person, which I can do — though I should also say this person has nothing to say about the president’s physical condition, and was limited to their own experience outside Biden’s tight inner circle.
Here is the assertion this person would like to get across: It’s unclear even to some inside the West Wing policy process which policy issues reach the president, and how. Major decisions go into an opaque circle that includes White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients (who talks to the president regularly) and return concluded. (The big exception to this pattern, they said, is foreign policy.)
This pattern had already been a topic of discussion, and curiosity, among the high-powered aides who work in and around the White House. The rituals of paperflow are technical, but they say they’re surprised by the lack of briefings to the president, and of readouts from consultations with the president and worry about the possibility of decisions “being made without him.”
My source has no reputation for being involved in factional fights on hot button issues, and no obvious ulterior motive for picking up the phone.
“I’m super proud of the policies,” the person said. “I’m talking to you because I’m incredibly upset and scared for the country and I would like to do what I can.”
Or as PJM alum David Steinberg tweets:
If only there had been signs before:
● Who’s our real president? Joe Biden — or the staffers who keep walking back his comments?
—Glenn in the New York Post, September 23rd, 2022.
● Former Top Obama Advisor David Axelrod Shreds Biden, Says He’s ‘Not in Command.’
—Bob Hoge, Red State, July 1st, 2022.
—Matthew Continetti, the Washington Free Beacon, July 1st, 2022.
● Joe Biden Doesn’t Know What You’re Talking About. “To watch Biden at the lectern was to experience shock and dismay interspersed with moments of alarm and dark humor. No wonder he hides from the media.”
—Continetti, NRO, January 22nd, 2022.