A leak from former President Joe Biden’s office show he wasn’t the only one confused about reality.
Senior advisors had aggressively pushed him to debate President Donald Trump as early as possible in 2024, arguing the earlier timing would allow Biden to demonstrate his “leadership” against Trump’s “weakness and chaos” before a crucial window of early voting began.
His advisors told him: Finish up that bowl of Cracklin’ Oat Brand, put on a fresh diaper, and get shufflin’, Mr. Biden!
The six-page document, dated April 15, 2024, featured in the upcoming book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” shows Biden’s team strategically maneuvering to schedule the debate that would ultimately derail his reelection campaign.
“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,” the memo states.
“In addition, the earlier YOU are able to debate the better, 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 document continues.
The memo was written 73 days before the June 27, 2024 debate disaster that would end Biden’s campaign. Top Democratic leaders forced him to withdraw from the race a month later.
Senior advisors Ron Klain, former White House chief of staff, and Cedric Richmond, then campaign co-chair, were among those advocating for the accelerated timeline, according to the document.
“Your senior advisors, including Ron [Klain, former White House chief of staff] and Cedric [Richmond, then campaign co-chair], continue to believe it is important to move forward with a plan that supports your participation in debates as early as possible,” the memo read.
The strategy was driven by concerns about the traditional debate schedule favoring Trump. Biden’s team worried that waiting until fall would squander opportunities to reach voters before early ballots were cast in key battleground states.
“YOUR Senior Advisors think strategically holding these debates in the fall, after many of the battleground states have already begun their early voting process and voter registration deadlines have passed is too late,” the memo emphasized about early mail-in voting.
The campaign team recommended scheduling one debate in the spring ahead of the August Democratic National Convention and another just after Labor Day, allowing Biden to “reevaluate after the first debate” and recalibrate strategy based on the results.
The memo came just days after Trump’s team had publicly taunted Biden, offering to have their candidate debate him “anytime, anywhere, anyplace” and pushing the incumbent to abandon the typical fall debate schedule.
However, there was internal tensions within Biden’s campaign, with some insiders scared about an early debate and others saying Biden shouldn’t debate at all. One Biden donor reportedly pressed the White House in May 2024 to find a reason to pull Biden from the debates after being “alarmed” by the president’s senility at a Chicago fundraiser.
Biden ultimately faced Trump on June 27, 2024, and performed so terribly during the CNN-hosted debate it ended his candidacy.
Biden never made it to the second debate, and announced his withdrawal from the race on July 21 when he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
“The only highlight from the debate was Joe Biden’s inability (to) form a complete sentence,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Monday. “American voters got a firsthand look at Biden’s weakness, his campaign in chaos, and what it looks like when real leader is missing from the White House.”
“Unfortunately for the Democrats, no adviser or so-called ‘strategic’ move could save their incompetent candidates and terrible policies from President Trump’s historic, landslide victory,” Rogers added.