Just over a week after President Joe Biden’s poorly received debate performance, there’s turmoil within his administration, with some members expressing their discontent anonymously in the media. The chaotic atmosphere is being likened to the plot of the comedy film “Weekend at Bernie’s,” where a family tries to maintain the illusion that their deceased uncle is still alive during a weekend trip.
Axios published the grumblings of several White House staffers, who offered candid assessments about their boss’s chances in November and where they think his top advisors went wrong. “Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole,” a White House official told the outlet. “Even if you’re trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment” from bosses. A high-ranking official at the Democratic National Committee added, “The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he’s capable of running this campaign.”
Criticism within the administration centers on the perception that top advisors, including Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, First Lady’s top adviser Anthony Bernal, and longtime aide Ashley Williams, have overly shielded the president. This protective approach is seen as problematic at a time when President Biden would benefit from a broader range of viewpoints to navigate challenges effectively. According to reports from Axios, some insiders have observed these advisors intervening during moments of forgetfulness by the president, even reminding him of long-known acquaintances.
One former Biden aide told Axios: “Annie, Ashley and Anthony create a protective bubble around POTUS. He’s staffed so closely that he’s lost all independence. POTUS relies on staff to nudge him with reminders of who he’s meeting, including former staffers and advisers who Biden should easily remember without a reminder from Annie.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates dismissed the concerns and the comments as “anonymous sniping,” saying that it’s not unusual for presidents to rely on a small, trusted team of advisors. “These are standard processes for any White House, regardless of president or party. The claims about these individuals — whose professionalism and character are respected across the administration — are inaccurate.” Bates added: “This is a team with experience keeping the faith as we helped earn the strongest record in modern history, and our focus is not on anonymous sniping.”
Despite increasing calls from sitting members of Congress and influential Democrats for Biden to end his campaign, the president’s team has enlisted supporters to argue that he has a strong record to run on and that one debate performance shouldn’t determine the outcome.“90 minutes doesn’t define a presidency. President Biden has given us 3½ years of extraordinary accomplishments and he made clear to every Democratic staffer who’s working to get him re-elected that he’s all in for four more,” DNC Executive Director Sam Cornale said in a statement to the outlet.
According to a recent New York Times poll, former President Donald Trump has taken the lead over President Joe Biden among two critical voter demographics that were key to Biden’s 2020 victory. Trump is now ahead among Hispanic voters with 50% compared to Biden’s 41%, and also leads among young voters aged 18-29, with 48% support to Biden’s 40%.
In contrast, during the 2020 election, Biden secured 65% of the Hispanic vote and had a significant advantage over Trump among younger voters, winning those aged 18-24 by 34 points and those aged 25-29 by 11 points, according to CNN’s exit polls. Trump was ahead of Biden with 49% to 43% among likely voters and led by eight points among registered voters in the NYT poll. In the 2020 popular vote, Biden secured 51.31% to Trump’s 46.86%.
Trump’s campaign said that it raised $331 million in the second quarter of the year, surpassing the reported $264 million raised by President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee over the same period.
