Joe Biden’s been relegated to the sidelines as the novel coronavirus dominates the news of the day. But that’s not a bad development for the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
While Democratic strategists warn of the political dangers involved in ceding headlines daily to President Trump, the former vice president is cocooned from any substantive negative press attention as he waits out the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak at home like the rest of the country.
Mike Nellis, the CEO of Authentic Campaigns and a former senior adviser to California Sen. Kamala Harris, said Biden benefits from not being the focus of a news agenda preoccupied with scrutinizing how the incumbent president is dealing with the pandemic.
“Trump is such an unlikable human being who is ill-equipped to handle this moment,” Nellis told the Washington Examiner, referring to both the public health response and the public relations fallout.
Nellis said another president might have managed the crisis in a way that showcased his or her leadership skills.
“He’s lost a lot of the goodwill the American people were willing to give him at the start of this pandemic, and you see it reflected in the most recent polling,” Nellis said. “Meanwhile, Biden and his team have been uniting the party, which is what they really needed to do right now.”
Quarantined on his Delaware estate, Biden emerges daily into public view for local or national interviews conducted remotely from his basement TV studio, as well as carefully orchestrated virtual events with voters, donors, or reporters. The events, however, are devoid of a traditional campaign trail’s spontaneity provided by an unfiltered question from a supporter, a protest, or the candidate himself, with his penchant for verbal missteps.
Biden’s basement approach has another benefit, at least for now. He’s been shielded from tough inquiries, likely from less-favored media outlets, about denied sexual harassment and assault allegations from former Senate aide Tara Reade.
For Jon Reinish, managing director at public affairs and political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker, Biden’s job was simply to present a contrast with Trump over what actions he should be taking now or what a hypothetical President Biden would do should he win the White House in November.
Reinish disagreed that Biden was avoiding the brunt of GOP attacks because of the outbreak, yet he advised Senate Republicans to tread carefully with their investigation into the ex-vice president’s son Hunter Biden and his work in Ukraine, as well as claims a Democratic firm tried to leverage his role with a Ukrainian energy company to exert policy influence in the Obama administration’s State Department.
“I think it would fall really, really flat with voters, and it would be seen just as a distraction attempt,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Biden team is adapting to campaigning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The spread of the disease, social distancing precautions, and the economic downturn that followed have hindered its fundraising capabilities and expansion efforts. The Biden operation, though, is investing heavily in an online presence, a much-needed push given Trump’s massive digital footprint.
As cities and states reach their case peaks and pressure starts to mount regarding the relaxation of mitigation measures, the Trump camp has already vowed to hold his frenetic signature campaign rallies in the fall. Biden will again be tested on how he counterprograms, whether he decides to follow public health guidance at the time or take a risk and host competing events.
[Opinion: Joe Biden is winning the 2020 election by just hiding in his basement]
