Delusion is a bad thing in a presidential campaign
Delusion is a bad thing in a presidential campaign
PLUS: Explaining the rise and inevitable fall of Donald Trump (video commentary)
The stakes of the 2024 presidential election are existential. The choice will present a referendum on the American republic, democracy, the US Constitution and liberty. The United States has existed as a two-party country for most of its history and the competition between the Democratic and Republican parties has been constant since 1854. This moment is unique in American history because one of the two political parties has become unmoored from the US Constitution and American liberty. During the Revolutionary War, the struggle was referred to as “The Cause.” The overwhelming majority of elected Republicans have either betrayed that cause directly, or collaborated with those that did. It is no exaggeration to say that we are talking about almost every single one of them. This is what the election is about.
I read a story by part of NBC’s excellent political team. When I read a story that makes my jaw drop about politics I always look to see who wrote it — and where they fall on the access media spectrum before giving it any thought. The story below is written by superb political journalists, including Carol E. Lee. I have no doubt whatsoever that the story is a spot-on, accurate assessment of what is going on around President Biden with their campaign’s thinking. It makes me worried.
I’m going to post the entire story and respond after various paragraphs, but before beginning, I want to make clear that I believe with every fiber of my being and my full heart and soul that this is the greatest threat to the American republic since the Confederacy:
What you are about to read is a disturbing portrait of pettiness, selfishness, obtuseness, delusion and extraordinary political incompetence from some of the people quoted. Let’s just hope that the voices of common sense and sanity prevail within the Biden campaign.
Biden advisers bristle at Gavin Newsom's plan to debate DeSantis
Vice President Kamala Harris' allies are particularly annoyed by the California governor's move into the spotlight ahead of a possible 2028 Democratic nomination fight.
Aug. 27, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT
By Jonathan Allen, Carol E. Lee and Monica Alba
WASHINGTON — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is increasingly being viewed as a nuisance to some of President Joe Biden’s political advisers, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Though Biden's camp no longer sees Newsom as a wannabe challenger — and some in Biden's orbit praise him for acting as a top campaign surrogate — Newsom’s plan to debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on television carries more risk than potential reward, these people say.
These “people” are morons. Teddy Roosevelt said this at Dunsmuir, California, in 1903 and it bears repeating:
Sometimes each of us has the feeling that if he has to choose between the fool and the knave he will take the knave, because he can reform him perhaps, and he cannot reform the fool; and even hardness of heart is not much more destructive in the long run than softness of head.
Gavin Newsom is the second-term governor of California, the fifth largest economy in the world and the greatest single contributor to the American economy. He doesn’t need permission from someone in the White House to debate a fascist on national television. Further, Governor Newsom will end Ron DeSantis’ political career on Fox News. It will be a humiliating experience for the Tallahassee Mussolini. There is no risk, and if the Biden team looks at Ron DeSantis and thinks the president can’t win against him, Biden shouldn’t run. DeSantis is a historically terrible candidate. The malignant ideology he espouses demands and deserves non-stop confrontation. The fight ahead is an information and communication fight, and the Biden operation is poor at that, to say the least.
That has caused consternation within Biden's operation and among Vice President Kamala Harris' allies.
Some Biden advisers have complained privately that the planned debate, which Fox News host Sean Hannity would moderate, could make voters think Newsom is running a shadow 2024 campaign at a time when most Democrats say they’d prefer a different candidate at the top of the ticket. They also argue that it could elevate DeSantis, whom White House advisers initially perceived as a greater threat to Biden’s re-election hopes than the GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump. (Others have insisted that there is no harm in their debating and that, in fact, it could be a net positive.)
Harris allies take particular umbrage at what they see as Newsom's attempt to position himself for the 2028 Democratic presidential primarily at her expense.
"It's disrespectful," an outside adviser to Harris said. "Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. That's the Democratic ticket."
What an amazing quote. First off, it isn’t disrespectful, but if the anonymous outside adviser lays on such drivel to the vice president, it’s worrying because it’s delusional. Delusion is disrespectful, isn’t it?
I’m going to write in “New Jersey” speak to make a point. Is it actually f@#*ing possible that the Harris team is sitting around thinking and talking about their 2028 campaign in 2023? Could that be true? Because Carol Lee wrote it, I know it is, and it made me feel physically sick. I don’t like reading about delusional and out-of-touch people around the campaign that will decide if democracy survives or not on the basis of its ability to communicate what’s at stake.
It's not clear yet that the debate will actually go forward: the two camps have been haggling over proposed rules since DeSantis accepted Newsom's standing challenge this month. But the specter of the two governors going head to head has highlighted the degree to which Biden's interests aren't always clear and can diverge from Harris' interests.
DeSantis is the same thing that Elon Musk is, which is a word you can’t say out loud, but Eric Swalwell precisely used to describe Kevin McCarthy’s cowardice and spineless mess. DeSantis is terrified of Newsom. It is important for Gavin Newsom to appear on Fox and break through the delusion field. If DeSantis, whose Super PAC is ludicrously named Never Back Down, shows up for a debate staged by his shill he will be embarrassed.
Newsom is expected to be a top surrogate for Biden's campaign at the second Republican presidential primary debate in Simi Valley, California, in September, said a Democratic aide familiar with the plans.
Just as some Biden advisers are irked by Newsom's move, others see potential benefit in a high-profile Democrat's defending his record and agenda against a prominent Republican hopeful.
"What he's doing here is appropriate for a surrogate. It would not be appropriate for the president or the vice president," said a Biden adviser who lauded Newsom for taking on DeSantis and for sharing a donor list with Biden's re-election campaign.
"We're in close touch with him," this adviser said. "This is the kind of thing we want surrogates to do."
Whomever this adviser might be, they are much smarter than the first one. It is extremely important that the smart advisers have control of the campaign to preserve the republic.
Newsom didn't respond to a text message seeking comment on what he learned about DeSantis from Wednesday's Republican primary debate and whether he thinks the two men will end up debating.
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden's re-election team, said the campaign is on board with the debate.
"Governor Newsom is a strong partner and surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign," he said in a text message. "We coordinate closely on campaigning, whether it's fundraising or media. When he brought the debate idea to us, we endorsed it."
Munoz declined to say specifically when the endorsement came or who gave it.
It isn't the first time the White House has had to contemplate whether Biden and Harris are collateral damage in Newsom's efforts to elevate himself.
Last year, Biden advisers closely tracked Newsom's national political activity, concerned that he might be laying the groundwork to run in 2024. He reassured then-White House chief of staff Ron Klain that he was "not interested" in a 2024 bid, said a person familiar with the conversation.
With many Democrats looking for an alternative to Biden, who turned 80 in November, some of Newsom's maneuvers into the national spotlight were perceived as promoting him at the cost of stoking concerns about the president.
But since Biden announced his re-election campaign in April, Newsom has become a top surrogate, and most of Biden’s advisers have welcomed his help. One set of Biden's advisers is content with a potential Newsom-DeSantis showdown, seeing political upside for Biden and the party if DeSantis falters, people familiar with the discussions said.
On the other hand, a strong DeSantis showing could strengthen him and weaken Democratic arguments. DeSantis exchanged barbs with Harris this summer as she harshly criticized a state education mandate to teach Florida schoolchildren about the "benefits" of slavery.
She declined DeSantis' entreaty last month to engage with him directly on the issue, and then he agreed to debate Newsom. Though the challenge had been issued much earlier, Newsom's decision to move forward came in the shadow of Harris' arm's-length back-and-forth with DeSantis.
While the two governors tussle over the rules and timing of a debate — it could happen this fall, possibly in November — DeSantis is trying to gain traction in his uphill fight to beat Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination.
DeSantis and Newsom already have sparred over a variety of issues, including crime, Covid, abortion rights, education and migrant policy. Newsom has run ads in Florida targeting DeSantis’ positions.
A Biden adviser bristled at the message the possible debate sends about Harris and about the early jockeying for the 2028 nomination.
“It could either look one of two ways: like he tried to defend her because she couldn’t defend herself or that he was being thirsty for attention or to get in the fight,” the Biden adviser said. “And it was at a time when the VP had completely dismissed and won the fight with DeSantis, and I think Gavin gave him a second life.”
Newsom didn’t give DeSantis a second chance. The entire quote is delusional. Delusion is a bad thing in a presidential campaign. That’s something on which we should all agree.
Today’s video commentary
I try to explain what people don’t understand about how Donald Trump rose to power, and how he could be in trouble moving forward in the 2024 presidential election.
If you’d prefer to read the transcript, you can do so here.
Political ambitions are one thing, but I think the 2028 race should be on the back burner. We've got to win in 2024, or there may not be an election in 2028. I really wish the Dems would get on the same page, one that saves our Democracy.
Gavin Newsom’s gifts of communicating articulate and insightful analysis should be not only appreciated by all those concerned with our threatened democracy, he should be front and center with the Biden/Harris staff utilizing his skills on behalf of rescuing our country. Let the voters decide but do not muzzle a great communicator out of some corrupt idea of who deserves to be elected from time spent rising in the ranks. I appreciate Vice President Harris, and if she is wise, she will partner with Gavin Newsome to strengthen their message. The survival of our democracy is at stake. Thanks for making this crucial point Steve, even as you bond with your son on your road trip to New England, home of our county’s beginnings....(along with the great state of Ben Franklin, Pennsylvania).