Biden world appears to be in damage control.
Biden campaign staffers are “battling low morale and disillusionment” amid the current news cycle, fueled by leaks after the president’s infamous debate performance, Axios reported Wednesday, noting that campaign leaders have tried to motivate their “demoralized” staffers while working to rally Democrat lawmakers and donors from abandoning President Joe Biden.
Leaks to the establishment media from within the Biden camp damaged the morale of the campaign, Politico West Wing Playbook reported Tuesday, “creating a sense of uneasiness and distrust that did not exist before the debate.” When Biden repeatedly vowed to remain in the race, the leaks only worsened morale.The leaks include:
- Biden weighing dropping out of the race
- Biden’s nap schedule
- Staffers supporting Vice President Kamala Harris
- Aides attacking Biden’s character
- Former President Barack Obama raising concerns about Biden’s political viability
- Biden skipping a 2022 meeting with the German chancellor to sleep, sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his stead
The White House denies the leaks’ authenticity.
Some staffers blamed their media allies for “cherry-picking quotes from dissatisfied junior staffers,” who allegedly do not reflect the broader campaign sentiment about Biden’s health, Playbook reported.Biden’s performance, however, only confirmed observations that reporters ignored his decline for years, according to Axios’s Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, who are thought leaders in the establishment media.
To restore confidence in the campaign, senior staffers asked Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to give staffers a speak to talk Biden up. “I plead with you: Worry less, do the work,” Newsom said, according to a video leaked to Axios. “There’s never been a president in our lifetimes — I don’t know if there ever will be again — that’s delivered more than President Biden. It’s just a fact.”
The pep talk did not appear to calm the storm. Two fresh leaks hit the press that cast doubt on Biden’s functionality. A source told the Daily Beast that convicted felon Hunter Biden is reportedly the “acting chief of staff” to Joe Biden, usurping Jeff Zients in that designated role.
A second leak that Axios printed on Tuesday from a Ukrainian source suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “concerned” about Biden’s health after watching his debate performance. “People are coming [to the NATO summit in Washington] to witness whether Biden is or is no longer [in charge],” one European diplomat said, according to Axios.More on leaks regarding the White House are here.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
