Biden advisor called ‘delusional’ for claiming pushing former president out was ‘insane’
Mike Donilon, a top advisor to former President Biden, was called out by liberal commentators for saying it was “insane” to push the former president out of the 2024 presidential race, and for slamming the party for melting down after Biden’s June debate performance.
“Delusional,” former Obama advisor and CNN political commentator David Axelrod wrote on social media.
“Now, lots of people have terrible debates,” Donilon said during a discussion at Harvard University. “Lots of people have terrible debates. Usually the party doesn’t lose its mind, but that’s what happened here. It melted down.”
Donilon added, “I think it was insane, I think the party lost its mind.”
MSNBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL QUESTIONS WHETHER BIDEN’S TOP ADVISORS ARE TOO OLD AND WHITE TO PREPARE HIM FOR DEBATE
Former U.S. President Joe Biden is accompanied by senior advisor Mike Donilon (L) and Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed as they depart the White House on April 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. ((Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))
“This man should hang his head in shame. He helped deceive Americans and ushered in a second term. One of the villains of our time,” former Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote on Blue Sky, reacting to Donilon’s remarks.
Ben Rhodes, a former Deputy National Security Advisor under President Obama, reacted, “It’s best when the post mortems take place on earth.”
Amanda Litman, co-founder of the Run for Something PAC, said it was an “insane thing to say out loud.”
“One reason the party’s brand is so bad is bc our party’s biggest leader was unable to give a coherent interview for much of the last 4 years,” Litman, who worked as a digital strategist on multiple Democratic campaigns, continued.
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President Joe Biden stands at his podium during the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections between himself and former president Donald Trump at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Kevin D. Liles for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Former CNN reporter Chris Cilizza wrote in a post on his Substack, “This is simply not a fair reading — or even close to a fair reading — of what actually happened.”
He accused Donilon of attempting to rewrite history in his piece headlined, “Joe Biden’s team remains *totally* oblivious to reality.”
Acknowledging that previous presidential candidates such as Obama or Ronald Reagan had bad debate performances, he wrote, “there is a MASSIVE difference between a poor or even a ‘terrible’ debate and what Biden did on June 27 in his first (and only) showdown against Donald Trump.”
Cilizza argued it was different because of the context, noting that leading up to the June debate, Biden’s team did “everything they could” to hide the president from the public, while insisting that Biden was “far younger than his years.”
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“In short: This is a drastic attempt to change history to make Joe Biden look better/good — and to minimize the damage he did to Democrats’ chances of beating Trump last November,” he continued. “I have been clear that I do not think Biden deserves ALL the blame for why Kamala Harris lost. But the idea, which Donilon is pushing, that Biden a) didn’t do that badly in the debate b) could have won the general election and c) was still the best Democratic candidate is totally and completely ridiculous.”
