2023-12-06 05:25:30
(CNN) – United States President Joe Biden told Democratic donors on Tuesday that he is not sure if he would have sought re-election if his predecessor Donald Trump was not in the race for the White House. His remarks reveal a remarkably candid assessment about the logic of the race he faces, as he enters a likely rematch with his 2020 rival.
“If Trump hadn’t run, I’m not sure I would have run then,” he said. And he added that Democrats “can’t let (Trump) win.”
The comment, which the president made during a fundraising event outside Boston, offered perhaps the starkest rationale yet for Biden’s re-election decision. Furthermore, these words –– which suggest that Biden might not have sought a second term if Trump were off the map –– took some of the president’s top campaign officials and advisers by surprise, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Biden has long considered himself the best option to protect the country from another Trump administration and has framed the upcoming election as a defense of democracy.
The comment came as Biden began a fundraising rush Tuesday ahead of a costly re-election race.
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“Ugh,” responded a senior campaign advisor upon learning of the comments.
Now, the campaign was quick to try to downplay the president’s statements, calling them an irrelevant moment. He also pointed to the fact that Biden has always described Trump as a unique threat to the country, and that he had expressed similar sentiments about his decision to run for president around the 2020 campaign.
“President Biden said in 2020 that he was running to restore the soul of our nation – he entered the race after Trump said what he said after Charlottesville – and he correctly views the former president as a unique threat to our democracy,” he said. Delaware Senator Chris Coons to CMM. “President Biden beat Trump before and he will do it again.”
The president’s comments also come as he begins a fundraising tour ahead of a costly re-election race.
Biden participated in three fundraisers in Boston this Tuesday, in the first of seven days that will extend until Monday. There are also more events scheduled for later this month. Democratic officials are aiming for what some believe could be a multibillion-dollar campaign, as Biden works to sell his reelection bid to a public that, at least for now, appears skeptical.
Biden confronted Trump directly at the first of those fundraisers, where he warned that his predecessor “is telling us what he’s going to do. He doesn’t mince words about it.”
“Trump no longer even hides his intentions. He is telling us what he is going to do. “He doesn’t beat around the bush about it,” Biden said to the donors, according to journalists present in the room.
The president referenced Trump’s recent focus on ending the Affordable Care Act, as well as the former president’s “vermin” comment. Trump said in a speech in New Hampshire last month: “We will eradicate the communists, Marxists, fascists and radical left thugs who live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He also warned that “the real threat is not from the radical right. “The real threat comes from the radical left and grows every day.”
Biden noted that Trump did not attend his inauguration, saying, “I can’t say I was disappointed, but he didn’t even show up.” Reporters in the room said this sparked some laughter from the audience.
Singer-songwriter James Taylor will headline a later event in Boston’s theater district. Tickets for “You’ve Got a Friend in Joe” cost between $50 and $7,500. Additionally, two other events in the area will bring millions more to the Biden campaign’s war chest.
The president also referred at the first fundraising event to the hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas that collapsed last week, and called for strong condemnation of what he called “the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists.”
“Let me be very clear: Hamas’s refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this agreement and ended the lull in fighting. All those still held hostage by Hamas must be immediately returned to their families. “We are not going to stop,” he stated.
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The president is making a last-ditch effort to get money before the reporting deadline at the end of the month. He’ll be in Los Angeles this weekend for a pair of Hollywood fundraisers, including one with powerhouse stars Stephen Spielberg, Shonda Rhimes and Rob Reiner, which will be hosted by set designer to the stars Michael Smith and his husband James Costos, a former US ambassador to Spain.
Last quarter, Biden and the Democrats reported raising $71 million for his re-election, a solid figure that far surpassed his potential Republican rivals but lagged behind Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama at this point in their careers. re-election.
Campaign officials say the pace of fundraising has increased. November was the month with the highest amount of grassroots donations since Biden announced his re-election bid in the spring, an official said.
So far, the campaign has used that money on television ads, going on air with a $25 million ad buy to test messages and try to make the case for the president’s re-election. Some of the ads aired during key NFL games.
Biden’s re-election effort has set a record for non-election-year ad spending by an incumbent, according to AdImpact data, with more than $45 million going to pro-Biden ads since the beginning of 2023.
The record spending on early advertising comes from a variety of groups supporting re-election: Biden’s own campaign, which has spent about $11.3 million; an allied committee of the Democratic National Committee, which has spent about $5.4 million; a joint fundraising committee, which has spent about $8.2 million; an allied Political Action Committee (PAC), which has spent about $19.8 million; plus more than a million other smaller groups.
The cumulative total so far, more than $45 million and rising, is more than Trump and his allies spent on advertising in 2019, which was about $36.5 million, and far more than the network Obama spent around $7.3 million in 2011.
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With its significant initial investment, Biden’s re-election effort has targeted key media markets in battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada.
Four middle markets have attracted a large share of pro-Biden ad dollars: Atlanta, the top market, where Biden’s network has spent about $5.3 million; Philadelphia, where they have spent about $5.1 million; Phoenix, where they have spent about $4.2 million; and Detroit, where they have spent almost $4 million.
Las Vegas ($2.9 million), Milwaukee ($2.5 million) and Pittsburgh ($1.9 million) are the other top markets where Biden’s operation has spent more than $1 million. .
The Biden campaign has recently focused its messaging on health care, and is currently airing a 60-second ad in eight different states — the aforementioned battleground states plus North Carolina — that features a former pediatric nurse criticizing the Trump administration’s health care policies.
Echoing that approach, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee are also airing an ad in several battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, highlighting the administration’s efforts to reduce prescription drug costs.
The campaign also began recruiting in key early voting states, announcing a state director this week in South Carolina, which will be an early test of Biden’s support among Black voters.
So far, however, the campaign has carried out a relatively basic operation that officials say is intentional as they seek to preserve resources for next year.
The-CNN-Wire
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