‘The American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership,’ advisers told Biden
Former president Joe Biden’s senior advisers urged him to face Donald Trump in an early debate to showcase his “strength” and reach the “widest audience possible,” according to an internal memo. Weeks later, Biden’s disastrous performance in that debate blew up his reelection bid and led to his decision to bow out of the race.
“By holding the first debate in the spring, YOU will be able to reach the widest audience possible before we are deep in the summer months with the conventions, Olympics and family vacations taking precedence,” two senior advisers told Biden in a six-page memo dated April 15, 2024, according to Politico.
“The earlier YOU are able to debate the better,” the memo goes on, “so that the American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership, compared to Trump’s weakness and chaos.”
The memo—obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf and featured in their upcoming book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America—surfaces as reports have shed light on Biden’s mental and physical decline, particularly in the days leading up to his disastrous June debate with Trump.
Biden appeared “extremely exhausted” and “unaware of what was happening in his own campaign” ahead of the debate, longtime Biden aide Ron Klain said, according to another recent book, Chris Whipple’s Uncharted. Klain had to cut short the two mock debates he had organized for Biden and was “struck by how out of touch with American politics” Biden was.
“The president was fatigued, befuddled, and disengaged,” Whipple wrote. “Klain feared the debate with Trump would be a nationally televised disaster.”
The April 2024 memo, however, appears to indicate that Klain was one of the two advisers pushing for Biden to debate Trump early. “YOUR Senior Advisors, including Ron and Cedric, continue to believe it is important to move forward with a plan that supports YOUR participation in debates as early as possible,” the memo says. Klain led Biden’s debate preparation at the time. “Cedric” is likely 2024 Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond.
Weeks after the debate, Biden dropped out of the race in favor of his vice president, Kamala Harris, who went on to lose to Trump.
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