President Joe Biden has not officially announced that he is running again for the White House in 2024. So far, the Democratic competition for his re-election is not worrisome. Self-help lifestyle guru Marianne Williamson is making a quixotic bid for the presidency and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his resistance to vaccines, is another hopeful. With the lack of a heavyweight contender in the primary, Biden does not feel pressured to declare his candidacy soon.
Campaign aides and members of the Democratic National Committee are meeting to plot his strategy — one that will likely attempt to paint Trump as an accused criminal who is not fit for office. They will also try to yoke MAGA extremists to the former president that would show he is out of step with ordinary Americans.
The campaign team will also have to prepare for the possibility of Trump’s loss in the primary. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could be his opponent instead. Democrats are worried that DeSantis is sometimes polling ahead of Biden. Also, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will make a case for her bid, and her enviable biography could draw support. Ex-Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who has formed a presidential exploratory committee, could also get in the race on the Republican side. Both would court evangelical Christians, who are a formidable voting bloc in Iowa and South Carolina.
Just Watch Him Go
Biden recently completed a trip to Ireland when he said he could announce “relatively soon.” This could be a way to create suspense in his campaign or to show he is in no hurry to start his re-election bid. There are different reasons for the delay. Trump is struggling with the indictment and arraignment for his alleged role in the hush money case with Stormy Daniels He could also be indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Moreover, Trump is being investigated by a special counsel and the Department of Justice for his actions leading up to the January 6 insurrection and his role in allegedly attempting to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Why not let these potential criminal cases play out and further burn Trump?
Also, Biden could be waiting for DeSantis to enter the race and allow DeSantis and Trump to destroy each other with negative ads and other types of sniping. The former president is already accusing DeSantis of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare – actions that Trump said he would never do.
Joe Biden 2024: Could It Be Next Week?
Some Biden loyalists have marked April 25 on the calendar as the date Biden might announce. April 25 is the anniversary of when he announced in 2019.
Biden will have a fight on his hands no matter who the Republican nominee is. He has low approval ratings that stubbornly hover around 40% or below. Many Democrats do not want him to run again. Other voters are concerned the country is on the wrong track. The economy has low unemployment, but people have less money to spend due to inflation that is around 5% down from its highs of 9%, but still enough to make numerous families across the country struggle with their monthly expenses. Interest rates have also gone up and the stock market dipped 20% last year, affecting people who feel less wealthy.
In Ireland, he reiterated his desire to be re-elected. “I told you, my plan is to run again,” he said impatiently to reporters. Biden is now 80, and he would be 86 at the end of his second term should he be sworn in again in 2025. He has faced criticism that his mental acuity is fading. His last campaign during the Covid pandemic saw most of his efforts take place in the basement of his main residence in Delaware. This time he will need to be in the public eye more often.
But Biden has the power of incumbency. He will be able to raise substantial amounts of money and jet off on Air Force One to multiple campaign events. Trump has low overall approval ratings and is facing more criminal procedures. DeSantis is unproven on the national stage and Haley has yet to make a name for herself with many voters. Pence and Scott are polling in the single digits. Thus, Biden is still a front runner, and he can certainly be elected again. Yet the president must announce first, and no-one is sure when that will happen.
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Author Expertise and Experience: Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
