The White House’s public clashes with prominent Republicans risk elevating 2024 GOP presidential contenders.
But the political mudslinging also benefits President Joe Biden and Democrats before the 2022 midterm elections and the next presidential cycle.
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The back-and-forth is “mutually beneficial,” in part because many Democrats are “demoralized and depressed,” according to Republican strategist Doug Heye.
Prospective voters are “not seeing a lot of victories,” including Biden’s social welfare and climate spending bill, rebranded post-State of the Union as his “Building a Better America” proposal, Heye added.
“So how do you rally the Democratic base? You do so with Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz and everyone else down that line,” he said. “It helps you raise money, and it helps identify a political opponent in a way that can help rally the base.”
The Republicans can then point to Biden, White House aides, or the Democratic National Committee and say, “They’re scared of me,” Heye contended.
“That is a very persuasive message in the Republican primaries,” he said.
A source in Biden’s orbit was adamant the White House did not base its communications on 2024 considerations, rather that those possible Republican presidential hopefuls have big platforms, and White House decisions are premised on whether they have said or done something that warrants a response from the administration, the source said.
At the same time, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has become the prime political foil for the White House after former President Donald Trump, mentioned by staff and reporters by name in approximately 28 press briefings and three gaggles, which are more informal Q&A sessions, since the start of the Biden administration, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of transcripts.
On Thursday, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida legislature stripping Walt Disney World of its self-governing status after Disney criticized the state’s parental rights law.
“It’s wrong. That’s our view,” she said. “We oppose the governor taking action against a company because [of] their opposition to that bill.”
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has been name-checked in 26 briefings, four gaggles, and even a statement issued by White House press secretary Jen Psaki last week.
“Gov. Abbott’s unnecessary and redundant inspections of trucks transiting ports of entry between Texas and Mexico are causing significant disruptions to the food and automobile supply chains, delaying manufacturing, impacting jobs, and raising prices for families in Texas and across the country,” she wrote.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has been referred to in 12 briefings and three gaggles, while Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley has been cited in four briefings and one gaggle. But in comparison, Trump has been name-checked in 153 briefings and 20 gaggles during the same period.
The politics of Biden using Trump to underscore a contrast is more complicated because Biden is the sitting president and does not need to appear small amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, what is expected to be a record migrant surge at the southern border, and 40-year-high inflation of 8.5%, according to Heye.
“He’s the president, capital ‘P’ president. He’s not a candidate who’s going to get in these fights,” Heye said. “He just wants to get in those fights every once in a while.”
But the Biden source predicted the White House and the president would continue drawing parallels between himself and Republican leadership on subjects such as tax and healthcare policy, with the president repeatedly saying, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty — compare me to the alternative.”
Besides elevating 2024 Republican presidential aspirants, White House reactions risk amplifying ideas with which Biden and Democrats disagree as well.
For example, the Republican National Committee quickly clipped for social media Jean-Pierre telling reporters that Florida’s parental rights law is “wrong.”
Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre says it’s “wrong” to NOT teach K-3 students about woke sex and gender theories pic.twitter.com/7dfQLCujfP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 21, 2022
During the gaggle aboard Air Force One, Jean-Pierre, who is the first openly gay black woman to brief the White House press corps, ripped Republican tactics as “unfortunate.”
“Instead of talking about the issues that’s going on currently — right now, with the pain the American families are feeling, and coming to the table and having a real discussion on how to make Americans’ lives better — they want to have a cultural war,” she said before Biden’s two-day West Coast trip.
But Heye described “a battle royale” in which culture wars can be advantageous for both Democrats and Republicans, particularly those related to school curricula and teaching during the pandemic after Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s win last year.
“A lot of it is what comes around goes around, and we’re only seeing that increase,” he said.
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Democrats’ 2022 prospects are dim, with Biden’s average approval rating hovering around 41%, or net negative 12 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics. Congress has a worse 22% average approval rating, with Republicans notching a 3.5 percentage point edge on generic congressional ballot polling.
