Whenever you read the news, keep in mind that there are always two stories: The story you see, and the story behind the story.
Let me explain.
Yesterday, news broke that ex-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had left the Democratic Party and would be writing a tell-all book about the Biden administration. No big deal, right? I mean, I don’t wanna be unkind, but not too many Americans were sitting on pins and needles, waiting for Karine Jean-Pierre’s pearls of wisdom.
But it is a big deal.
And what makes it big is the timing: Her book won’t be released ‘til Oct. 21.
Ask yourself: Why the hell did Jean-Pierre announce that she’s leaving the Democratic Party at the beginning of June? Wouldn’t it make much more sense to announce this in October?
Her book won’t be released for another 138 days!
The story about Jean-Pierre becoming an independent was covered by every major news outlet in America. That's the kind of advance publicity most writers would kill for! The ad-equivalency was worth millions — yet she squandered it all by making this announcement so far in advance, when there’s nothing yet to sell.
Weird, huh?
The surface-level story — the one about Karine Jean-Pierre leaving the Dems — was what everyone saw. But most folks missed the story behind the story: The only way her marketing strategy makes ANY sense is if she has juicier, crazier stories to share when we get closer to October.
No sense in firing all your ammo in the beginning of June, right? Otherwise, you’ll have nothing left to say when it’s time to sell books.
And, as it turns out, Jean-Pierre has (allegedly) been collaborating with a New York publicist named Gilda Squire for several years:
Some former Biden aides said Jean-Pierre's tenure was complicated by her work with a New York-based publicist, Gilda Squire.
- Jean-Pierre was the focus of several magazine profiles and appeared on "The View" in New York. At one point, she wanted to appear on the show once a week.
- Within the White House, there were concerns about Squire being looped in on internal emails regarding Jean-Pierre's profiles and promotional appearances.
- Concerns about Jean-Pierre's self-promotion were even raised with the White House counsel's office because some staffers felt torn between their administration duties and helping Jean-Pierre promote herself, according to a former White House aide familiar with the internal dynamics.
This probably explains the ultra-aggressive blowback from Team Biden:
One former White House official who worked closely with Jean-Pierre told Axios that she "was one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I've ever worked with. ... She had meltdowns after any interview that asked about a topic not sent over by producers."
- "She didn't know how to manage a team, didn't know how to shape or deliver a message, and often created more problems than she solved," the official said.
- A former Biden communications official threw more wood on the fire: "The hubris of thinking you can position yourself as an outsider when you not only have enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power — which ... bestows the name recognition needed to sell books off your name — but have actively wielded it from the biggest pulpit there is, is as breathtaking as it is desperate ... It's difficult to see how this is anything but a bizarre cash grab."
- Another former White House official familiar with the dynamics told Axios: "The amount of time that was spent coddling [Jean-Pierre] and appeasing her was astronomical compared to our attention on actual matters of substance."
The surface-level story of Jean-Pierre becoming an independent was uninteresting. Nobody cared. But the story behind the story has Biden World in a frickin’ tizzy! Axios actually headed their article, “Bidenworld goes scorched earth on Karine Jean-Pierre.”
TRUST ME, if the Bidens assumed she was gonna write about Biden being smart, talented, and still having all his marbles, they wouldn’t be attacking her like this! Instead, they’d be defending her.
That’s the story behind the story.
And this brings us to Elon Musk’s recent attacks of the Big Beautiful Bill. There’s the surface-level story — the potential shattering of a key MAGA alliance — and the story behind the story.
Related: PR Fallout of the Musk-Trump Feud: We’re at a Tipping Point
The surface-level story is detrimental to President Trump. In-fighting, disunity, and name-calling isn’t helpful. The margins in the House are simply too narrow; a fractured MAGA cannot be an effective vehicle for legislative change.
The votes just aren’t there.
The fallout also reminds the public of other high-profile schisms between ex-Trump confidants, playing into the narrative of Trump being too temperamental and chaotic.
But the story behind the story is probably more damaging to the Democrats.
After getting their [butts] kicked in 2024, the Democrats were searching high and low for an effective talking point. That whole “Trump is Hitler” argument fell on deaf ears, so they needed something new.
And in Wisconsin, they finally found it:
In Wisconsin, Democrats think they may have figured out a playbook that will help them as they gear up for the midterms. They sought to use Musk’s influence against him, framing the race as yet another example of the world’s richest man — a “special government employee” often by Trump’s side — wielding undue influence over the country.
Musk’s approval ratings consistently lag behind Trump’s, and the president has repeatedly had to defend his senior adviser as Democratic messaging has coalesced around criticism of Musk as an unelected “oligarch.”
“He’s becoming electoral poison,” said Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster. “The Democratic Party is going to make Elon a central issue in its messaging, as it should, and Democrats are getting better at focusing on what matters to voters, which is the threat he poses to entitlements.” [emphasis added]
Thus, they pivoted. They went from vilifying Trump to vilifying Musk:
Throughout the campaign, Democrats strategically positioned Musk as the primary antagonist, framing his substantial financial contributions as an attempt to “buy” the election. Judge Crawford and her supporters emphasized this narrative in their messaging, portraying Musk’s involvement as an unprecedented assault on democracy.
In her victory speech, Crawford declared, “Today, Wisconsin defended against an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our equitable elections, and our Supreme Court. Wisconsin has firmly declared that justice cannot be bought; our courts are not for sale.” This rhetoric resonated with voters who were wary of corporate interference in judicial matters and galvanized Democratic turnout. [emphasis added]
And it worked! It was such an effective rallying cry, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Democratic presidential frontrunner Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) built an entire “Fighting Oligarchy” tour around it.
That was the Democrats’ big takeaway: It’s easier to run against Musk than Trump.
But if Trump is ALSO fighting against Musk, who, then, is really fighting the oligarchy?
Furthermore, if the face of the evil, awful oligarchy — i.e. the world’s richest man — hates the Big Beautfiul Bill this much, does that mean Democrats should support it?
All at once, their “Fighting Oligarchy” talking point became a muddled, incomprehensible mess.
I’m still hopeful that Trump and Musk will find a way to mend fences. But even if they don’t, it’s not all storm clouds: Weirdly enough, it might actually hurt the Democrats more than Republicans.
And that’s the story behind the story.
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