Donald Trump’s Tuesday night victory in the New Hampshire primary all but guarantees 2024 will be another rematch between the former president and Joe Biden. With that in mind, CNN contributor Van Jones offered the incumbent some advice.
Rather than selling the American people on what he considers his policy successes, Biden should have surrogates do that job for him.
"If I were Biden, I would stay hidden,” Jones said, which would repeat Biden’s 2020 basement strategy amid the pandemic.
“I will tell you why,” the Democrat continued. “He doesn’t inspire confidence. He is not a great messenger for himself. He has done a tremendous job for this economy. Union members, union leaders have — are racking up win after win. They should be put forward. There are clean energy executives in red states that are putting people to work... There’s something wrong with this campaign where we are somehow expecting Joe Biden — frankly, he hid during the last campaign — to just somehow come out and be Flash Gordon and save his own campaign. The people who are benefiting from the Biden economy — and they exist — should be empowered to speak."
Jones also warned Democrats what they should take away from Trump's success.
“Part of what we’re looking at as Trump’s strength, his resilience, is really a reflection of Biden’s fragility. Republicans are not afraid of Joe Biden,” Jones said. “They’re not afraid. They don’t think that by putting up somebody this damaged, frankly this deranged, with this many deficits, is gonna hurt them at all. Because the polls show over and over again, that even with 978 felonies, he’s still neck-and-neck with Biden. And so it’s a warning sign, you’re correct there’s some warning signs for Trump, but this should be warning signs for Democrats.”
Van Jones tries to warn his fellow Democrats that they're putting up an incredibly weak candidate.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 24, 2024
"Trump's strength, his resilience is really a reflection of Biden's fragility. Republicans are not afraid of Joe Biden...even with 978 felonies he's still neck and neck with Biden." pic.twitter.com/iLRJnwGeBi
Jones's comments come as Biden struggles with poor approval ratings and voter concerns about his mental acuity and stamina to do the job well.
“An overwhelming 71 percent said [Biden] was ‘too old’ to be an effective president — an opinion shared across every demographic and geographic group in the poll, including a remarkable 54 percent of Mr. Biden’s own supporters.” https://t.co/uyhQZJBHGF
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) November 5, 2023