Democratic Party leaders are reportedly skeptical of President Biden’s reelection strategy but are not speaking out for fear of being ousted from the commander in chief’s inner circle.
“It’s unclear to many of us watching from the outside whether the president and his core team recognize how serious the situation is and whether they have a plan to resolve it,” said a Democratic strategist in contact with the Biden campaign. He told Axios Wednesday.
“That’s scary,” the person added.
“Even those closer to the center are afraid to be skeptical or question the current course for fear of being seen as disloyal,” a second person close to the 81-year-old president told the outlet, adding that there was no talk at this point of “needing to change direction” of the campaign.
At issue are concerns among Democratic leaders that the Biden campaign is placing too much emphasis on messaging related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, political violence, threats to democracy and the character of former President Donald Trump, at the expense of addressing voters’ concerns about the economy and inflation.
Biden’s Recent election campaign commentsAt a fundraiser in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday, the president mentioned the word “Trump” 17 times, the word “freedom” eight times and the word “democracy” four times, but mentioned the word “economy” only twice and the word “inflation” three times.
On Monday, the Biden campaign launched a $50 million television ad offensive attacking Trump, who was convicted on 34 felony counts of business fraud.
The ad attacks the 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate as a “convicted felon out to get only himself.”
Mike Donilon, a longtime Biden aide and chief campaign strategist, believes the polls do not fully reflect the depth of voter concern about the threat Trump poses to democracy.
“The focus will become overwhelming on democracy by November,” Donilon said in an interview with[T[hefocuswillbecomeoverwhelmingondemocracy”byNovemberDonilonsaidinaninterviewwith New Yorker Earlier this year.
“January 6th will be the day that sticks out most in people’s minds,” a top Biden campaign official argued.
Biden aides, including Donilon, believe the president beat Trump in 2020 because voters resonated with his campaign’s “soul of the nation” message, an approach that Democratic pollsters warned against at the time. “Nutty.”
According to Axios, many Democrats, including some in the Biden administration, are concerned that the campaign has “learned the wrong lessons” from Democratic victories in the 2020 election and the 2022 midterm elections and that its view of those successes is “distorted.”
“Biden didn’t win, Trump lost,” a source close to the White House told the outlet.
The Biden campaign did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment.
