Nothing an extreme heat event can't fix

Jul 01, 2024

By Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.

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When EMMY RUIZ, White House director of political strategy and outreach, convened a call on Monday afternoon with Democrats close to the administration, she had one prevailing message: We know things need to change.

“I promise you, nobody here is walking around with a puffed chest saying, ‘We know everything that we’re doing [is] right,’” she said, according to a recording of the meeting shared with West Wing Playbook. “We cannot afford to, you know, [not] change things that have not been going well.”

Think tank leaders and heads of aligned groups peppered Ruiz with questions and offered suggestions about how the Biden team could turn things around after the president’s disastrous debate performance. And Ruiz gave some clues about how Biden will handle the potentially pivotal week ahead.

Ruiz said they were working on adding an out-of-town trip to the president’s schedule for this Friday, potentially to Milwaukee. Over the weekend, Biden would likely go to Philadelphia to deliver remarks at the annual National Education Association meeting, which, Ruiz said, would give the campaign an opportunity to highlight that prominent Democrats like Pennsylvania Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO — who has been floated as a potential replacement at the top of the ticket — are “standing strong with the president.”

Biden, she noted, would also host an event on Tuesday on extreme heat, as well as a Fourth of July celebration at the White House on Thursday.

But some of the people close to the Biden White House still felt deflated. The solutions that Ruiz offered left an impression that the things Biden could do to rewrite the age narrative — ditch the teleprompter, hold more unscripted events, aggressively ramp up the campaign travel schedule — were simply too big of a risk for the 81-year-old president.

Ruiz said aides recognize Biden needs to do “real press engagement” and acknowledged that “we know we have to get the president out there — and he knows that.” But much of what she pointed to as reassurance that things were changing in the West Wing and the Wilmington campaign headquarters came across to some as just the same old stuff: a schedule still built around the inescapable reality of an aging president.

“President Biden is the most legislatively successful President since LBJ and we make no secret of the fact that we need our allies’ help reminding Americans about the President’s historic victories,” White House spokesperson ROBYN PATTERSON said in a statement. “The American people deserve to hear about this President’s work and we’ll keep talking to stakeholders about how we can make sure more people hear about the President’s historic work to lower costs, make the wealthy pay their fair share, and fight for everyday Americans.”

A White House official said Monday’s call, which had been scheduled for weeks, is one in a series of regularly held meetings to get feedback and coordinate messaging with political groups and advocacy organizations.

But the meeting turned into just one of many efforts on behalf of the Biden team in the aftermath of the debate to try to keep everyone — from angry donors to anxious party strategists — inside the tent. Those reassurances, however, have fallen flat to some Democrats close to the Biden team, coming across as more of an attempt to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic rather than offering a convincing way to rebound the campaign.

Ruiz framed the Biden team’s post-debate strategy as a decision to “lean into the day job of the president.”

The White House would also “look for opportunities to get him out into the community here in D.C.,” she said, and asked those on the call to share their ideas on local places they could take the president. Next week’s NATO summit in Washington would also be an opportunity for Biden to demonstrate his “strength, his steady hand, his leadership,” she argued.

Participants on the call urged Ruiz to act quickly. Undoing the damage would be challenging, they warned. After Biden tanked on national TV, one participant said they likely would not be able to convince everyone that the president was up for another four years. It would be important to lean more on Vice President KAMALA HARRIS, the person said.

Still, despite the overwhelming sense of anxiety and panic in the party, some participants on the Monday call said they felt like the Biden team was being responsive.

“[Ruiz] was really candid and looking for guidance and partnership,” said Center for American Progress’ NAVIN NAYAK, who was on the call. “The overarching guidance — which to me felt resonate as well — which is the only solution to this is to get the president out there.”

“I didn’t hear anyone say that’s not doable,” he said.

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POTUS PUZZLER

How did GEORGE H.W. BUSH celebrate his 90th birthday?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

SO …. ABOUT THAT DEMOCRACY: After spending the day at Camp David, President Biden added 7:45 p.m. remarks to his schedule to discuss the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that DONALD TRUMP has “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for all “official acts” he took while in office, our JOSH GERSTEIN and KYLE CHENEY report. The decision immediately knocks out some of the central allegations being made by special counsel JACK SMITH, including his argument that Trump attempted to weaponize the Department of Justice to amplify false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice SONIA SOTOMAYOR left open an alarming scenario: “When [the president] uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

And QUENTIN FULKS, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, kept it succinct in a press call following the decision: “I’m scared as shit. And I think Americans are scared and should be scared of what Donald Trump will do.”

MICHIGAN BLUES: Another governor who's been suggested as a replacement for Biden post-debate? Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER. But our JONATHAN MARTIN reports this morning that, at least for now, she’s not interested.

Whitmer called Biden campaign chair JEN O’MALLEY DILLON Friday night to confirm she had no designs on the White House and to reiterate her commitment to helping the president face what’s likely to be an uphill final few months before the election.

She did have one daunting message for JOD, JMart writes: “Michigan, in the wake of the debate, was no longer winnable for Biden.”

But Whitmer denied delivering that warning in a not-so-subtle jab at the column this afternoon. “Anyone who claims I would say that we can’t win Michigan is full of shit,” Whitmer wrote on X.

NEW HAMPSHIRE, TOO: A poll taken the first two days after Thursday night’s debate shows Biden narrowly trailing Trump in New Hampshire. Yes, New Hampshire. Biden led by 10 points in the same Saint Anselm/WMUR poll in December. Now, he’s down to 42 percent. Trump is getting 44 percent and ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. is pulling 4 percent.

YOUR TIMING IS IMPECCABLE: First lady JILL BIDEN is Vogue’s cover star for August, striking a determined pose in a cream-colored pantsuit beside a quote in all caps: "WE WILL DECIDE OUR FUTURE." The issue no doubt went to press before last week’s debate — and before Democrats, so unnerved by the president's performance, called for him to step aside and criticized the first lady and other close confidantes for their stubborn insistence that he is still the party’s best or only option to defeat Trump. The article itself, is aimed straight at women voters who the first lady is looking to galvanize on the fight to restore reproductive rights. “When our bodies are on the line, when our country and its freedom hang in the balance, we are immovable and unstoppable,” she says.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by CBS News’ CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ, who reports that illegal crossings along the U.S. southern border hit a three-year low in June following President Biden’s executive action to curtail asylum. Border Patrol processed approximately 84,000 who crossed the border without authorization last month, the lowest monthly level since Biden took office in January 2021, when the agency reported just over 75,000 migrant apprehensions.

Senior adviser to the chief of staff SALONI SHARMA and campaign spokesperson JAMES SINGER shared the piece on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo’s DAN BALZ, who writes that Sunday’s French elections are a warning sign for the Biden camp. Voters put MARINE LE PEN’s far-right National Rally Party on track to be the largest block in the French Parliament — a huge blow to President EMMANUEL MACRON, who (much like Biden) had bet voters, when faced with the prospect of the far right in power, would reject his rival.

As Balz writes, it should set off flashing red lights for Biden and Democrats. Trying to scare voters with a grim prediction of what a Trump victory would mean for the future of U.S. democracy may not be enough.

CAMPAIGN HQ

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Bloomberg’s MARIO PARKER and GREGORY KORTE reported Monday that the Democratic National Committee is considering formally nominating President Biden as early as mid-July — an effort to secure his spot on the November ballots and simultaneously help stamp out Democratic calls to replace him. A potential date for Biden’s nomination is now July 21, Parker and Korte write.

Democrats had already planned on nominating Biden before the convention — scheduled to take place from Aug. 19 to 22 — in order to ensure he appears on the ballot in Ohio, which has an Aug. 7 deadline for candidates to be certified. But they’d never officially set a date for the now-virtual roll call.

That point is what peeved some Biden folks. “Actually, this has been planned since May and it’s to ensure @JoeBiden will be on Ohio’s ballot … As a matter of fact, I read about it in an outlet called [Bloomberg],” senior deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES wrote on X in response to the story.

BAD DEBATE? JUST FIX IT IN POST: The Biden campaign is airing a new 60-second ad in battleground states Monday, featuring narration from Biden’s North Carolina rally Friday, NYT’s SHANE GOLDMACHER reports. The ad is an attempt to repackage last week’s debate — a new experiment in whether a historically disastrous performance before an audience of more than 40 million can be repaired, essentially, in post-production.

Biden’s voiceover attacks Donald Trump for his repeated falsehoods and ends with an acknowledgement of his own shaky showing: “Folks, I know I’m not a young man. But I know how to do this job. I know right from wrong. I know how to tell the truth. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.”

THE BUREAUCRATS

PERSONNEL MOVES: The Office of the United States Trade Representative announced Monday that BRENNA DOUGAN will rotate in as the acting assistant U.S. Trade Representative for labor affairs. Dougan has most recently served as deputy assistant U.S. trade representative in the same office.

Agenda Setting

A REQUEST FOR YOU, LLOYD: A group of House Democrats is urging Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN to expand training for Ukranian F-16 pilots, our JOE GOULD reports. The lawmakers, led by Rep. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.), are backing Ukraine’s request for 10 more of their pilots to be trained this year.

“The request comes at a critical juncture in Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russia, where the deployment of F-16 aircraft has the potential to significantly influence the outcome of the war,” the 15 lawmakers said in their letter to Austin, obtained by POLITICO.

What We're Reading

The Road to a Crisis: How Democrats Let Biden Glide to Renomination (NYT’s Jim Rutenberg and Adam Nagourney)

12 Experts on What Biden Needs to Do After His Debate Debacle (POLITICO Magazine)

The Inevitability of Biden’s Reckoning (WSJ’s Molly Ball)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

By falling 6,300 feet out of the air, of course! The senior Bush decided to celebrate his 90th in 2014 by skydiving in Maine, with the help of a group of army veterans. It wasn’t his first time — that honor goes to a day in 1944, when he was serving in the Navy. But during his years of service, he pledged that one day, he would jump out of planes for fun. So, starting on his 75th birthday, he made it a tradition to skydive every five years.

Mr. President, you have the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever.

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Steve Shepard and Rishika Dugyala.

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