The Return of the Ron Klain Memo
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The following is a FAKE memo from former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain to President Biden. It is not a real memo, but it is based on real reporting.
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TO: JRB
FROM: Ron Klain
DATE: 2/21/23
RE: The view from here…
I hope the trip is going great. It is really odd for me to be thinking about only one time zone at a time.
(Well, two if you count Los Angeles, where all my deals are being cooked up.)
I know we agreed I would stay in touch after I left, but it still feels odd to write this.
But here goes!
Amazing, amazing trip to Kiev. Brave, heroic, game changing.
You faced down Putin, bucked up the Ukrainian people, sent a message to Xi, got to ride trains for 20 hours, and further built up the experience and credentials of the person who is going to get you re-elected (the brilliant and talented Jen O'Malley Dillon).
Those are incredible accomplishments.
I feel dutybound to tell you, though, that while the Gang of 500 swoons over the cloak and dagger that got you secretly into a war zone (the rigatoni!!), the rest of America is less impressed.
Check out these home pages:
ATLANTA:
LAS VEGAS:
PHOENIX:
GREEN BAY:
EVEN YOUR HOMETOWN PAPER:
There is a lot of news there, but I don’t see the word “Biden” (let alone the word “Kiev”) anywhere.
Still, the trip was worth it, of course, for a lot of reasons.
As we talked about before I left, 2023 is primarily about three things:
1. Getting Speaker McCarthy onboard for more aid for Ukraine.
2. Getting Speaker McCarthy onboard to raise the debt ceiling.
3. Getting the reelect in gear.
On the first two, as discussed, we are going to be relying on Mitch McConnell to use his hammer at the exact right time to help us jam the House, which will be tough because McConnell is as popular with the base of his party as Congresswoman Omar would be at a CPAC executive committee meeting.
But we….urh,…..I mean “you” will get it done. The Kiev trip will help with getting the additional war money.
I think you need to add a fourth major “to do” item to the list, which is fixing the Norfolk Southern situation. The new regime managed the Kiev trip as well as I would have, but I can’t honestly say the same for Ohio. This is where not having politics, policy, and the press all centralized in one Hoosier head is costing you and the administration.
Pete is back on the offense, going after the rail company, pledging to visit, showing he cares, and EPA and others are now on the ground, but all of this is a couple of days and millions of dollars short. Trump is planning to visit and you will eventually have to also.
But this is the kind of event that can define your administration and really hurt your chances for another term, despite all other advantages you have.
I recommend going all out to support Pete; he’s been the best of soldiers for us and the administration should return the favor. This is the opportunity for him to prove to the world that he is only part Vulcan.
As for your campaign, at some point your “electability” argument is going to be badly tested. Private Democratic polling shows what the public ones do; nationally and in the battlegrounds, you are at best even with Donald Trump right now, as crazy as that is. Our media allies have their heads in the sand about this true fact, but we can’t ignore it.
Yes, we all think you could beat Trump again one-on-one, especially if we avoid a deep recession. But we know it isn’t a sure thing.
And against one of these younger folks, who knows?
DeSantis is running hard, with a new nonprofit and the potential to outraise both Trump and you. If his rival Republicans have anything like the oppo we have on him, he won’t make it to Iowa. But, of course, they are a clown show, so who knows what they actually have.
Of the last seven presidents before you, four were two-terms and three lost their reelection bids. The trio who failed either had fierce nomination challenges (Carter and Bush 41) or were reality show real estate hucksters who fumbled a global pandemic (you know who).
You won’t fall into either of those categories as you seek a historic second term.
I recommend you focus on how to beat DeSantis, even though Trump could end up the nominee. You know how to beat Trump already.
Could it be someone else? For pure entertainment value, this essential reading New York Times story about Chris Sununu demonstrates that no one would provide more one-liners, but, no, really, focus on Trump and DeSantis.
(Although, if it somehow ends up being Sununu, I have a ton of ideas about who can play him in debate prep.)
Can you bundle money? Yes.
Can you raise hundreds of millions online from grassroots donors? I truly don’t know. Technically, your team will be the best of all time at building that infrastructure, but your brand has to be magic. In all honesty, this is where Trump (or DeSantis) will help you a lot, scaring folks to go right to the Blue portals.
However, if you somehow end up losing, don’t worry. I can introduce you to a ton of people in Hollywood. These folks are creative, fun, interesting, and bursting with ideas about how to turn a lifetime of government service into an only-in-America opportunity.
I’ve got a new mantra now: You can indeed take the boy out of Indiana and the Indiana out of the boy!
I’m assuming you didn’t work out on the train (or did you?), so I hope you got some exercise in this morning before your speech.
Worrying about that is no longer my job.
If you need to reach me, I will be having lunch at Casa Madera.