Close friends of former President Barack Obama say that the former leader fears that his successor, former President Donald Trump, will win the 2024 presidential election.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, one of Obama’s close friends, said that the 44th president was beginning to panic at the possibility of Trump returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Obama wasn’t alone in this fear, he added, as even he himself and other key persons in the Democratic Party dread the possibility of a Trump victory.
Barack Obama fears close 2024 race with Trump, tries to 'move the needle' for Biden, closest confidants sayhttps://t.co/jKuR3ErPgG
— MSN News (@MSNNews) January 10, 2024
Even Michelle Obama, Barack’s wife, revealed that she is “concerned” about the 2024 election’s possible outcome. “I am concerned about what could possibly happen,” the former first lady said during a Jan. 8 appearance on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast. While she did not name Trump outright, Michelle referenced political candidates who continue to “divide the nation with their divisive rhetoric.”
But according to senior Obama advisor Eric Schultz, the former president’s strategy is reportedly based on “driving impact” and being deliberate in “picking moments” – with an overarching objective to “move the needle.” He continued that in public, this strategy translates to “finding creative ways to reach new audiences,” with tools directly tied to mobilizing voters.
“Obama is going to do everything he can to help in that regard – and that means campaigning, but it also means sharing strategic advice,” said Holder. “And who better than Obama to be a primary advisor to the campaign?”
REPORT: Obama Increasingly Worried Trump Will Beat Biden in 2024 Election via @gatewaypundit https://t.co/Y5Fi9m3lvj
— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) January 11, 2024
Enter Obama, who reportedly speaks with Biden on a regular basis. The former president is increasingly being tasked with coming to his former vice president’s rescue as polling shows Biden struggling with Black, Hispanic, and voters younger than 35, who are demographically essential to any victory. (Related: Trump LEADS among Hispanic and under-35 voters in new poll.)
As surveys become more public, some Democrats point to how most 2024 polls show Trump in the lead with a little less than 10 months to go, and a failure to sell progressive voters on accomplishments, such as securing $132 billion in student loan debt relief despite resistance from Republican opponents.
David Axelrod, Obama’s advisor and long-time friend, even suggested that Biden drop out of the race. He later said that surveys that show Trump having the lead in battleground states represented “very dark” news for the incumbent’s reelection campaign.
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who was instrumental in helping Biden with the Democratic nomination in 2020, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he’s “very concerned” about the president’s support. His apprentice, Anton Gunn, a former official at the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration, concurred with his mentor’s opinion. According to Gunn, the Biden campaign isn’t engaging voters – particularly Blacks – on the urgency of 2024 beyond facts and statistics.
“What keeps me up is that if we only make the rational, thoughtful and deliberate argument of why Biden is better, and don’t recognize that there needs to be an emotional current through this campaign,” he said.
“The same way Obama had an emotional currency, the same way Trump had an emotional currency when he won in 2016, there’s a big fear that this could all go south because people vote emotionally. They don’t vote rationally.”