{"id":44794,"date":"2025-07-14T19:11:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T00:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=44794"},"modified":"2025-07-14T23:47:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:47:42","slug":"democrats-say-biden-needs-to-quit-taking-gop-bait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=44794","title":{"rendered":"Democrats say Biden needs to quit taking GOP bait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Democrats are slamming former President Biden\u2019s\u2002<\/u><\/a>response to a series of investigations of him by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the Trump administration, arguing he is again taking the GOP bait to the detriment of his own party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a time when Democrats have sought to go on offense over President Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d and the MAGA World furor over the Jeffrey Epstein\u2002<\/u><\/a>controversy, party operatives are scratching their heads at Biden\u2019s need to insert himself into the conversation \u2014 not to mention his defensive rhetoric. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say Biden is again helping Republicans with his actions, though they say there are ways for him to engage without interfering in the party\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s able to go out and be a spokesperson on the issues that matter to him, if he wants to go talk about Medicaid, if he wants to go and offensively talk about that or other pressing issues, I think that makes sense and that does the work,\u201d said one Democratic strategist. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think you have that conversation on Donald Trump\u2019s terms. I don\u2019t see the logic on what the Biden inner circle is thinking here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019d have to question a lot of his PR decisions over the last two years,\u201d the strategist added, arguing Biden and his aides did too little to sell his accomplishments in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe selling of his presidency falls short, and this falls short,\u201d the strategist said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Democratic consultant, asked about the weekend interview, was blunt: \u201cHe is adding nothing. Not a thing. And at this point, he\u2019s making it worse.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Biden left office in January, Democrats have grown increasingly frustrated with the former president as he has taken up oxygen with a string of public remarks and appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May interviews on the BBC and \u201cThe View,\u201d Biden shifted the focus away from the party\u2019s rebuilding effort, some Democrats argue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden sat for an interview with The New York Times last Thursday, responding to allegations made against him in the investigation of his use of an autopen to sign pardons. Republicans have levied Biden\u2019s use of the autopen to bolster their narrative that Biden\u2019s aides were running his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democrats critical of Biden\u2019s latest interview say the subject was tangential, at best, to the national discourse. And they say that the autopen investigation will have no bearing on voters in the 2026 midterms.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemocrats need to be on the offensive, and we cannot be running a rear guard operation to defend the Biden administration,\u201d said Democratic strategist Garry South. \u201cIt\u2019s not a helpful factor for him to reemerge publicly at this point, particularly in terms of \u2026 defending his administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is still a lot of disappointment, if not downright anger, that he decided to run again and left the party in the position of having to switch horses midstream in last year\u2019s election, leading to the second term for Donald Trump,<\/u><\/a>\u201d South added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enthusiasm within the Democratic Party continues to wane in the wake of a devastating loss in 2025, a new poll<\/u><\/a> by the Democratic super PAC Unite the Country revealed. Voters view Democrats as \u201cweak,\u201d \u201cwoke\u201d and \u201cout of touch,\u201d the same poll showed, and there is a prevailing perception of the party as weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday, former President Obama\u2002<\/u><\/a>criticized the party\u2019s feeble strategy and urged Democrats to take a different approach in countering Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018I think it\u2019s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions,\u201d Obama\u2002<\/u><\/a>said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to require Democrats to just toughen up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few Democrats said Biden\u2019s interview would hardly hurt the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s approvals are going down pretty precipitously. I don\u2019t think that Biden talking to the times about autopen is going to change that,\u201d said David Litt, a speechwriter for Obama who recently published a new book, \u201cIt\u2019s Only Drowning,\u201d about searching for common ground during a politically divisive moment for the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost off to the side of this broader conversation that people will vote on in the midterms. \u2026 It\u2019s just kind of a niche subject, and \u2026 there are just so many bigger fish to fry in all directions,\u201d Litt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Litt said he could even see a short-term scenario in which Biden\u2019s response to the autopen investigation taken together with the Epstein controversy helps Democrats and hurts Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s \u201cwillingness to go down any rabbit hole \u2026 unless that rabbit hole involves Jeffrey Epstein \u2026 is going to be the story this week,\u201d said Litt. \u201cAnd to the extent that Biden sort of highlights Trump\u2019s hypocrisy \u2026 I think that could actually turn out to be politically helpful for people who are not fans of Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the Republicans in Congress say, \u2018We\u2019re going to investigate a bombshell,\u2019 and it\u2019s not the Epstein files, people\u2019s biggest question is going to be, \u2018Why isn\u2019t it the Epstein files now?\u2019 From both the right and the left,\u201d Litt added. \u201cSo I actually think that it may coincidentally be a moment that highlights Trump\u2019s willingness to investigate everything other than Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Democrats are harsher critics of Biden\u2019s latest interview and his reemergence altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They acknowledge that Biden will likely hold minimal influence over the midterms but worry that his appearances drag the party back to the very moment they are trying to build back from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Party operatives also question Biden\u2019s ability to be an effective counter to Trump, saying that he propagates the perception of Democrats as a weak contrast to Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn his diminished state, he simply can\u2019t come off as a powerful voice against Trump, even though one can sympathize with his anger at how Trump and his partisans have tried to depict him,\u201d South said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Litt said that Biden\u2019s remarks are a bad attempt at a good strategy, one that indicates growth and a proactive posture within the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA broader lesson that Democrats are learning is engaging more and earlier is better in this day and age,\u201d said Litt. \u201cIt used to be that Democrats would see these conspiracy theories bubble up on the internet, and they would say, \u2018OK, we\u2019ll just let it run its course.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing in general from Democrats, and I suspect that Biden is an example of this \u2026 is a recognition that these days, if somebody sort of right wing comments or tweets something that goes viral, it can very quickly become policy, and so you can\u2019t just let it run its course,\u201d Litt added. \u201cInternet trolls are really the tail-wagging dog of a lot of Trump administration policies here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats are slamming former President Biden\u2019s\u2002response to a series of investigations of him by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the Trump administration, arguing he is again taking the GOP bait to the detriment of his own party. At a time when Democrats have sought to go on offense over President Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":44795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[33966,1169,1236,1580],"class_list":["post-44794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-bait","tag-biden","tag-democrats","tag-republicans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44796,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44794\/revisions\/44796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}