In a recent "Pod Save America" episode, former Obama staffers Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor openly criticized Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, calling his decision to run again a “catastrophic mistake.”
Favreau noted that Biden’s team dismissed his unpopularity and public frustration with inflation, insisting it was “the greatest economy ever.”
“And he and his inner circle—they refused to believe the polls. They refused to believe he was unpopular. They refused to acknowledge until very late that anyone could be upset about inflation, and they just kept telling us that his presidency was historic and it was the greatest economy ever.”
“Clearly, 70, 80% of voters don't believe that,” Favreau continued. “They don't believe that about their own personal financial situation, but they just keep telling us that. And then after the debate, the Biden people told us that the polls were fine, and Biden was still the strongest candidate. They were privately telling reporters at the time that Kamala Harris couldn't win.”
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But the Biden team’s internal polling reportedly told a different story, showing Trump poised to win 400 electoral votes—a detail kept quiet while Biden’s camp pushed the narrative that he was the stronger candidate.
“So they were shiving Kamala Harris to reporters while they told everyone else ‘not a time for an open process,’ and his vice president can't win, so he's the strongest candidate.”
“Then we find out, when the Biden campaign becomes the Harris campaign, that the Biden campaign's own internal polling, at the time when they were telling us he was the strongest candidate, showed that Donald Trump was gonna win 400 electoral votes. That's what their own internal polling said.”
“Joe Biden’s decision to run for president again was a catastrophic mistake.” - @JonFavs
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) November 8, 2024
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Now, I can't even figure out how Trump could get to 400 electoral votes. Even if you give him all the battleground states plus New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nebraska District 2, Maine statewide, and even New Jersey, he gets 371.
Be that as it may, I honestly believe the Democrats didn't have a chance against Trump in this election. The failures of the Biden-Harris administration impacted so many that Trump's victory was inevitable. Even if Joe Biden had dropped out earlier or if someone other than Kamala Harris had taken his place, Trump's victory was baked in the cake.
Think about this for a second. The Harris-Walz campaign raised a billion dollars, spent all of it, and still lost every single battleground state.
Every single one. If the Biden campaign's internal polling showed that Trump would win as many as 400 electoral votes, no Democrat was going to be able to win, and certainly not Kamala Harris, one of the worst campaigners and the most unpopular vice president in the history of polling. So, what really happened? Joe Biden dropped out and forced his party to rally behind Kamala, knowing that she would carry the baggage of the Biden-Harris administration and lose to Trump.
Biden and his team likely knew Trump's victory was inevitable. So, Biden dropped out and set her up to fail so that he could say he's the only Democrat who beat Trump.
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