Aides close to President Joe Biden are beginning to question the campaign’s focus on Jan. 6 and democracy, and believe that if they voice their concerns, they will be labeled disloyal and exiled from the Biden circle, according to an Axios report.
Even those at the center of the president’s circle are hesitant to express skepticism or doubt about the campaign’s pitch to voters. The fear of being perceived as disloyal looms large, one anonymous person in Biden’s orbit told Axios.
“Even for those close to the center, there is a hesitance to raise skepticism or doubt about the current path, for fear of being viewed as disloyal,” the anonymous source said.
“It is unclear to many of us watching from the outside whether the president and his core team realize how dire the situation is right now, and whether they even have a plan to fix it. That is scary,” a Democratic strategist said.
Mike Donilon, a long-time top Biden aide, has reportedly rebuffed concerns about the Biden campaign’s strategy of framing the upcoming presidential election as a fight to protect democracy. The electorate “will do the right thing” and reelect Biden, Donilon privately tells people, according to Axios.
Despite polls that show Americans are most concerned about the economy and inflation, “there is not a discussion that a change of course is needed,” one source said of the Biden campaign.
Biden’s approval rating sits around 38 percent, with no notable change since former president Donald Trump’s felony conviction last month. Forty-six percent of Americans say they are struggling financially, while just 9 percent say they are improving financially, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.
