Biden leans on campaign staff to address Israel-Gaza politics

Biden leans on campaign staff to address Israel-Gaza politics

President Biden’s reelection campaign finds itself fully mobilized to talk about Israel’s war on Hamas — tackling whether, when and how to respond to which GOP attacks — as a new Gallup poll suggests his support for America’s closest Middle East ally is costing him Democratic support.

A review of Team Biden’s communications since Hamas rampaged through southern Israel, killing at least 1,400 Israelis, shows the president mostly keeping away from the partisan politics of the crisis, leaving the work of countering Republicans to the machinery designed to get him reelected in 2024.

That includes a constellation of messaging operations, with a division of labor. Aides are mindful, for example, that pushing back on the website formerly known as Twitter via the campaign’s @joebiden account risks drawing many more eyeballs to the criticism.

• So when Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said the president has “blood on his hands” because of his past engagement with Iran, a patron of Hamas, @joebiden kept quiet.
• But @bidenhq (effectively one of the campaign’s rapid-response operations) went after him several times. The DNC also criticized Scott on Israel.

As for the core Biden campaign … the Daily 202 email inbox currently includes six emails from them focused on the conflict. One of them targets former president Donald Trump while also exalting Biden’s leadership. Three more specifically go after Trump. The last two focus on the president’s handling of the crisis.

• While the Biden operation writ large has gone after other Republican officials and candidates, it’s clear who the center of its attention is. Trump. The runaway front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. In effect, the general election is underway.

A review of 26 statements or tweets from Bidenworld on the crisis over the past three weeks, provided by the campaign, found 16 of them zeroed in on the once and almost certainly future Republican champion. That’s not exactly scientific, but it may be illustrative.

The @joebiden account, for instance, went after Trump after he praised Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia that has fired rockets at Israel from inside Lebanon, as “very smart.”

And the White House delivered a rare rebuke over Trump’s “very smart” comment that highlighted the balancing act at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue between politics and policy.

“We don’t comment on 2024,” said spokesman Andrew Bates. “Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged.”

An unavoidable political dimension

The American response to the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis and the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in the ensuing Israeli military campaign targeting Hamas is obviously not primarily a domestic political matter.

But Biden is an incumbent running for reelection. And public opinion, in a republic, can shape policy responses. Those, in turn, can decide whether a candidate wins or loses. There’s no getting away from politics. And it appears the president is paying a political price.

A new Gallup poll, conducted Oct. 2-23, found 75 percent of Democrats approve of how Biden is doing his job — an 11-point drop from September, his worst showing with his own party since he took office, and well below his 86 percent average.

“Although the survey is not designed to allow for statistically reliable estimates for any subset of the three-week polling period,” Gallup wrote, “the daily results strongly suggest that Democrats’ approval of Biden fell sharply in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Biden’s promise of full support for Israel on the same day.”

• My colleagues Hannah Allam and Michelle Boorstein reported on Friday that the Biden White House was scrambling to salvage its relationship “with some of his most loyal voters: Muslims and Arab Americans.”

It’s not just the number. It’s the where. Those voters can make the difference in the critical battleground state of Michigan, which Biden won by 155,000 votes, 2.8 percent of the total ballots cast.

Candidate Biden weighs in

Biden campaign and White House officials declined to comment on the record for this piece.

So let’s listen in to how the president is talking about the crisis while in campaign mode.

Biden has attended two fundraisers since Oct. 7. At the most recent one, on Friday, Biden highlighted Trump calling Hezbollah “very smart,” and declared “we’re organizing the world relative to the attack on Israel.”

At another, from Oct. 20, Biden held forth considerably longer on the topic, starting by noting he had just returned a day earlier from a trip to Israel to show his support for the Jewish state.

In those remarks, the president: 

• Reiterated his “really strong, strong” support for Israel, emphasizing “[i]f there were no Israel, there’s not a Jew safe in the world — not in the entire world.”
• Highlighted the dual nature of his decades-long relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing a photo Biden signed with “Bibi, I love you.  I don’t agree with a damn thing you say.”
• Suggested Hamas attacked because he was on the cusp of getting Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel.

He did not directly address GOP criticisms.

It would be foolish to predict with any certainty what role Biden’s response to the crisis will have in November 2024. But it would also be foolish to pretend it’s a politics-free zone.

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UAW reaches tentative deal with GM to end strike, concluding talks with the last of the Big Three

“United Auto Workers leaders reached a tentative contract deal with General Motors, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet public, making GM the last of the Big Three automakers to negotiate an agreement after weeks of strikes,” Jeanne Whalen reports. 

• “The GM deal comes after the union unexpectedly ratcheted up its strike against the automaker Saturday evening, walking out of a GM factory in Spring Hill, Tenn., during an apparent impasse in talks.” 
• “It comes after similar tentative deals with Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis. If all of the agreements are ratified by UAW workers, they will end the union’s first strike against all three automakers at the same time. The agreements mark the biggest gains the union has achieved in decades, including raises of 25 percent in base wages over 4½ years.” 

Israel increases troops, tanks in Gaza as part of ‘expanded’ operation

“The Israel Defense Forces has “expanded” its operations in the Gaza Strip in recent days, adding troops and armored tanks who have conducted “coordinated attacks from the ground and the air,” spokesman Daniel Hagari said Monday,” our colleagues report. 

• “On Monday, Israel said additional forces entered the Gaza Strip including Infantry, Armored Corps, Combat Engineering and Artillery Corps as part of its expanded operation. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck 600 targets in the Gaza Strip in the last few days.”
• Meanwhile: “Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, declined to comment on specific troop movements and reports that Israeli tanks had pushed to the edge of Gaza City and fired on two civilian cars Monday.” 

Read from The Post more about the Israel-Gaza War:

Lunchtime reads from The Post

Co-workers knew he was struggling. They didn’t expect he’d buy an AR-15.

“LOUISVILLE — About a year before Connor Sturgeon gunned down his co-workers at Old National Bank in April, some close to the 25-year-old knew he was having problems,” Robert Klemko reports.

• “Sturgeon’s personal and workplace difficulties, the extent of which have not been previously reported, point to a larger debate over whether the AR-15 and other similarly destructive weapons are too easy to get — particularly for troubled young men who gun industry critics say are often the targets of marketing campaigns built around masculinity, military imagery or sex appeal.” 
• “A handful of Sturgeon’s surviving victims and family members of those killed said they are finalizing a lawsuit against Radical Firearms, the Texas company that produced the rifle Sturgeon used, an RF-15 that can be purchased for less than $400.” 

FIFA bans Spain’s Luis Rubiales over unwanted kiss at World Cup

“FIFA announced Monday that it has banned former Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales for three years over violations of the organization’s disciplinary code,” Matt Bonesteel reports.

“FIFA said it was banning Rubiales under Article 13 of its disciplinary code, which warns against “violating the basic rules of decent conduct” and “behaving in a way that brings the sport of football and/or FIFA into disrepute.” Rubiales can appeal his banishment.”

• “Spain soccer star Jenni Hermoso had accused Rubiales of grabbing and kissing her without her consent during on-field celebration’s of the country’s first Women’s World Cup title in August.” 
• “He also faces charges of sexual assault and coercion in Spain.” 

How Trump’s verbal slips could weaken his attacks on Biden’s age

“One of Donald J. Trump’s new comedic bits at his rallies features him impersonating the current commander in chief with an over-the-top caricature mocking President Biden’s age,” the New York Times’s Michael C. Bender and Michael Gold report. 

But, “in recent weeks, Mr. Trump [77] has also told supporters not to vote, and claimed to have defeated President Barack Obama in an election. He has praised the collective intellect of an Iranian-backed militant group that has long been an enemy of both Israel and the United States, and repeatedly mispronounced the name of the armed group that rules Gaza.” 

• “As the 2024 race for the White House heats up, Mr. Trump’s increased verbal blunders threaten to undermine one of Republicans’ most potent avenues of attack, and the entire point of his onstage pantomime: the argument that Mr. Biden [80] is too old to be president.”
• Already, some of Trump’s opponents are calling his age into question. “On Saturday, Ms. [Nikki] Haley attacked Mr. Trump over his comments about Mr. Netanyahu and Hezbollah, suggesting in a speech to Jewish donors in Las Vegas that the former president did not have the faculties to return to the White House.” 
• “Let me remind you,” she added with a small smile. “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”

Biden to sign sweeping artificial intelligence executive order

“President Biden is expected to sign a sweeping artificial intelligence executive order on Monday, marking the U.S. government’s most ambitious attempt to spur innovation and address concerns the burgeoning technology could exacerbate bias, displace workers and undermine national security,” Cristiano Lima and Cat Zakrzewski report. 

• According to a summary provided by the White House, the order is aimed at “placing new safety obligations on AI developers and calling on a slew of federal agencies to mitigate the technology’s risks while evaluating their own use of the tools.” 
• It also “requires that companies building the most advanced AI systems perform safety tests, a practice called “red teaming,” and notify the government of the results before rolling out their products.” 

Biden administration begins punishing servicers for student loan errors

“More than 830,000 people missed their first student loan payment in three years after one servicer, Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, commonly known as MOHELA, failed to send timely statements to 2.5 million borrowers,” Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reports. 

• “Borrowers were erroneously sent bills for $100,000 or cut off from the forbearance they were promised.” 
• “The Biden administration will punish MOHELA by withholding $7.2 million from its contract — the first time it has refused to pay a loan servicer — it is set to announce Monday.” 

Why many scientists are now calling climate change an all-out ‘emergency,’ visualized

“It isn’t just the fact that emissions still aren’t going down — or that policy hasn’t responded quickly enough to the challenge. (Carbon dioxide emissions related to energy use have continued to climb, even following the brief downturn of the covid-19 pandemic.) As the impacts of climate change escalate, scientists say that their language has changed to meet the moment,” Shannon Osaka reports. 

• “As recently as 2015, only 32 papers in the Web of Science research database included the term “climate emergency.” In 2022, 862 papers contained the phrase.” 
• On Monday, scientists released a paper showing “the world only has 6 years left at current emissions levels before racing past that temperature limit” of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

North Carolina congressional map deals blow to Democrats

“A new congressional map in North Carolina could set multiple House seats up to flip in Republicans’ favor, dealing a blow to Democrats heading into 2024,” the Hill’s Julia Mueller reports. 

“The new lines make at least 10 of the state’s 14 districts favor Republicans, according to multiple analyses — and the changes have already spurred shake-ups in the state’s 2024 election landscape.” 

• “The latest development in North Carolina’s district lines comes after the state’s Supreme Court — with a Democratic majority at the time — struck down GOP-drawn maps in 2021 because of what it considered illegal partisan gerrymandering.” 
• “But in April, the state Supreme Court — with a new Republican majority — overruled the earlier decision, making room for partisan redistricting.” 

Spurned by moderates and MAGA: How DeSantis’s coalition has deflated

“BEDFORD, N.H. — [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis began the year widely viewed as the Republican with the best chance to build a winning coalition against the former president — the Trump alternative who could entice Trump critics yet was also in many ways a continuation of Trump’s “America First” platform. But DeSantis’s support has dramatically shrunk since then, eroding on both ends of the party spectrum, interviews with dozens of early state voters, as well as pollsters and strategists, show,” Hannah Knowles reports. 

• “The GOP minority that disapproves of Trump — and that favored DeSantis before he and most other candidates announced — has splintered to other hopefuls.” 
• “At the same time, DeSantis has struggled among Trump supporters, losing ground with those who approve of the former president, who has used his four criminal indictments to re-energize a base that once looked readier to move on from him. And DeSantis has struggled on both ends to make personal appeals that resonate, with a stiffer presentation than freewheeling Trump.”

At 2:30 p.m., Biden and Vice President Harris will speak at a White House event about the nation’s commitment to responsibly using and developing artificial intelligence. 

At 5:30 p.m., the Bidens will host public school students, military-connected children and neighborhood families for trick-or-treating. 

What politically-focused Halloween costumes are you planning? 

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.