‘The vibes are really bad’

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Jun 28, 2024 View in browser   By Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren RALEIGH, North Carolina — Several West Wing officials were so demoralized by President JOE BIDEN’s poor performance in Thursday night’s debate that they opted to work from home on Friday. They spent a good part of the day as they did the night before: on group text threads, despondently expressing their numerous frustrations. One being that there didn’t seem to be much broader acknowledgement of what had just happened in Atlanta. According to a person familiar with the call, chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS and senior adviser ANITA DUNN did tell the 40 department heads and senior staffers on their morning call that it had been a challenging night and asked them to relay to their teams the importance of remaining optimistic. But not all staffers got the message. One administration official granted anonymity to speak honestly about private conversations described the group text thread as “a lot of people saying, ‘We're supposed to come to work and act like this didn't happen?’” The official continued: “We were all a bit nervous about the debate, but no one thought it was going to be as bad as it was. That pause at the beginning — from that moment on, the texts … the vibes are really bad. People feel demoralized.” The strategy – pushing for an earliest-ever June debate and the three-day campaign and fundraising swing built around it – was drawn up so that people would feel the opposite. During a staff Zoom meeting last week discussing plans for the president’s post-debate swing, ANTHONY BERNAL, senior adviser to the first lady, explained how two late-night stops following the debate and a rally in Raleigh the following day would serve as a victory lap for the president, to be greeted everywhere he went by enthusiastic supporters. “The whole plan was sold to us as: energy!” the official continued. “The missing part was the fucking debate!” Despite Biden’s shocking performance, which immediately sparked calls for him to step aside, the victory tour proceeded as planned. While the president and first lady JILL BIDEN worked the rope line at a hotel watch party less than an hour after the debate ended, Bernal, in a tan summer suit, danced to the music as if all was well. A short time later inside a Waffle House near Truist Park where the Bidens’ made another stop just after midnight, Biden seemed as befuddled as customers were at his being there, picking up food for the flight to North Carolina. Bags of waffles and eggs for staffers were dutifully carried aboard Air Force One, but few had any appetite. When Biden landed at RDU at 1:42 a.m., a crowd of supporters were positioned on the tarmac to greet him and chanted “four more years” as he came down the steps from the plane. Despite the late hour — and MSNBC chyrons like "Dem Sources Express Concern About Biden Performance" splashing across AF1’s TVs during the flight — the Bidens spent time shaking hands and posing for photos with the welcome crew. As the political universe continued to convulse over his meltdown, the president was grinning like he was winning. He was hitting his marks, even as a visibly preoccupied JEFFREY KATZENBERG paced quietly around on the tarmac. Nearly 12 hours later, when the Bidens took the stage for an early-afternoon rally, they were met with raucous cheers from a Raleigh crowd that, as one attendee confirmed, had been instructed prior to the president’s arrival to bring the energy. Seemingly every word Biden read from the teleprompter was met with loud cheers and more chants of “four more years” — including when he acknowledged and attempted to put a positive spin on his shaky debate performance. “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden said. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.” Longtime Biden officials who’ve endured doubts and handwringing before said that response encapsulated their own feelings. Campaign staffers back in Wilmington, most running on a few hours of sleep, were hooting and hollering as they watched the speech, a campaign official said. And a monthly all-staff call with campaign chair JEN O’MALLEY DILLON, campaign manager JULIE CHAVEZ RODRIGUEZ and deputy campaign manager QUENTIN FULKS included “plenty of laughs” and left staffers “feeling good,” the official also said. “Here's actually how the day was in Wilmington: we worked really hard, because on winning campaigns, you work really hard,” campaign senior spokesperson KEVIN MUNOZ texted West Wing Playbook. “There's an immense sense of pride across our office today, because we know how important and critical that work we are doing here is for the future of our democracy.” By the time Biden was in the air heading to New York for two days of fundraisers, nearly all of the few party leaders who might have the ability to convince the president to rethink his bid for a second term had circled the wagons. In a post on X, former President BARACK OBAMA chalked Biden’s performance up to a “bad debate night,” joining others like HILLARY CLINTON and Rep. JIM CLYBURN in defending Biden. And campaign officials pointed to a favorable response from a focus group of independents and its $14 million debate day fundraising haul to allay concerns. Although some White House staffers were heartened to see a more animated, emphatic Biden on the stump Friday, others were not. “The damage has been done,” one senior administration official said. “The ads are already being cut from last night. Every Democrat on the ballot this fall is going to have to answer whether they think the president they saw on stage last night should be president for four more years. And that’s a much harder question now to answer in the affirmative.” MESSAGE US — Are you JILL BIDEN? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!    THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists. Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY.     POTUS PUZZLER Which president did JERRY SEINFELD reference in a 1994 episode of Seinfeld? (Answer at bottom.) Photo of the Week President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump participate in a CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The Oval SO …. ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Across the country, the consensus after last night’s debate is that it could not have gone worse for Biden. There were lay-up moments for him on issues like abortion, and instead, he rambled and went off-topic. And now, panicked Dems are plotting their way to potentially replace Biden — someone who has dedicated his whole life for this moment — before August’s convention. One House Democrat who has been an outspoken defender of the president told our JONATHAN MARTIN that “the movement to convince Biden to not run is real.” The same member said that House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER should consider a “combined effort” to nudge Biden out of the race. Many of Biden’s favorite pundits gave a grim assessment of his viability. On “Morning Joe,” JOE SCARBOROUGH and MIKA BRZEZINSKI had a somber tune. “If he were CEO and he turned in a performance like that, would any corporation in America keep him on?,” Scarborough said. “We know Joe Biden can govern — But can he run for president in 2024?” NYT’s THOMAS FRIEDMAN, who considers the president “a friend,” urged him to bow out. “I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep,” Friedman wrote. “I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime, precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Anything besides coverage of the debate. Like this promising report on inflation, which showed that the core personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) — the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation — came in lower than expected in May. PCE increased 0.1 percent from April, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis — marking the smallest advance in six months. Senior deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES shared the report on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Everything else. CAMPAIGN HQ CHECKBOOKS OPEN UP: Despite the devastating night, the Biden campaign came out of it with their wallet a little fatter. The campaign raised $14 million on debate day and the morning after. Between 11 p.m. and midnight last night, the one hour after the debate, the campaign had its single best hour of fundraising since its launch in April 2023. THE BUREAUCRATS PERSONNEL MOVES: JAKE BRAUN, the acting deputy principal national cybersecurity director stepped down from his position on Friday, our MAGGIE MILLER reports for Pro subscribers. VICTORIA DILLON, spokesperson for the Office of the National Cyber Director said Braun is stepping down to return to Chicago, where he maintains a faculty position at the University of Chicago. Agenda Setting SCOTUS ON A HEATER: The Supreme Court released several opinions on Friday, including the overruling of the Chevron doctrine, which required judges to defer to agencies’ “reasonable” interpretations of “ambiguous” federal laws, our ALEX GUILLÉN and JOSH GERSTEIN report. Now, judges will be able to impose their own interpretations of the law — giving them broad leeway to upend regulations on issues such as health care, the environment, financial regulations and technology. In a 6-3 decision, the Court also ruled with Jan. 6 rioters, narrowing the scope of a federal law used to charge hundreds of people with obstructing Congress during the riot, jeopardizing many of those criminal cases, our KYLE CHENEY and Gerstein report. The decision saw Justice KETANJI BROWN JACKSON side with the conservative majority, while Justice AMY CONEY BARRETT wrote the dissent with the other two liberal justices. FIX THEM BRIDGES: The Biden administration on Friday asked Congress for $3.1 billion in emergency funding to help rebuild major highways, including the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, WaPo’s JACOB BOGAGE reports. The administration asked Congress to approve an additional $700 million for community housing, infrastructure and resiliency grants nationwide; $112.5 million for the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers, which have led the Baltimore recovery effort; and $25 million for workers displaced by the bridge collapse, wildfires and storms. What We're Reading ‘It pains me’: How Biden’s devastating debate went over at an assisted living facility (POLITICO’s Irie Sentner) Time to Go, Joe (The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich) ‘Every Democrat Needs to Do Soul-Searching’: Biden’s House Allies Are Stressed About His Future (NOTUS Team) WE HATE GOODBYES The staff email announcing SAM STEIN’s hire more than three years ago(?) as POLITICO’s new White House editor heralded him as “force of nature” who “radiates ideas the way uranium throws off gamma rays.” It’s the kind of over-the-top line seemingly required of POLITICO all-staff missives — the sort of flattering hyperbole that Sam, if he were editing, would have cut. Or written himself about someone else and then demanded to keep. But as he takes leave of us and this newsletter after today’s edition, there’s no question that those descriptions of him are, well, true. This is the guy who wrote 3,350 words on bagels. And another 1,850 on people in D.C. named Doug. We have learned there is no getting in the way of Sam when he’s got a joke (we’ve tried), be it a magazine-length riff or a spicy rejoinder to a newsletter item that we’re going to hear about the next day (i.e. a reference to “Twitter sourpuss ERIC SCHULTZ”). If you laughed at a subject line when we hit your inbox every afternoon, it was probably Sam’s (“Mitch did kill that vibe”). If you cringed at one, or several, also Sam’s (“Biden: Speak softly and carry a big carrot”). Besides his remarkable metabolism and prolific output, Sam has a unique ability to see around corners. Dumb luck? Maybe. But he has repeatedly attached himself to new, exciting things. First: the internet. Covering the Obama White House for Huffington Post, Sam was the first reporter from an online outlet to ask a question at a presidential press conference. Then: this newsletter. At first, EMILY CADEI was editing what started as Transition Playbook after Biden’s election, as ALEX THOMPSON and THEO MEYER quickly built an audience. “Sam was sorta helping, and then he seemed to like it,” Thompson told us. “And got increasingly involved.” He’s never looked back, sharpening our ideas, our copy and still calling Obama-era power players (JIM MANLEY, hello!) whenever he thought we needed a quote. There was a bygone time when Sam would write the top on Fridays, and what a time it was. But through all this newsletter’s iterations over more than three years, Sam has been the glue of West Wing Playbook, maintaining our consistency, our collective voice and our sense of community. He’s also made putting this newsletter together every day a lot of fun, to say nothing of his committed, heartfelt leadership of our broader POLITICO White House team. And we will miss his (outsized) presence tremendously as he sets off for The Bulwark and his new gig as TIM MILLER’s podcast sidekick. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER Believe it or not … CALVIN COOLIDGE. Silent Cal got a slight nod in an episode of Seinfeld for his famed quote: “I choose not to run” when he announced in 1928 that he would not run for reelection. In the episode, Jerry is challenged to a race by a former high school friend, much to his concern. Finally, Jerry built up the guts to tell it to him straight. “Because I choose not to run,” Seinfeld said in the episode. 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 Steven Shepard.   SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW.       Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Ben Johansen @BenJohansen3   Follow us

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