‘Pod Save America’ hosts hit back at Biden team: ‘What are you spending time on us for?’
By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN
(CNN) — Two co-hosts of the “Pod Save America” podcast on Friday fired back at Biden campaign staffers who have reportedly dismissed their calls for the president to consider stepping down from the Democratic ticket.
In an episode released Friday, Dan Pfeiffer called it “infuriating” to think that he and co-host Jon Favreau, both former Barack Obama aides, are questioning whether Joe Biden can win out of “personal animus.” It’s the latest episode of Democratic infighting since the president’s disastrous debate performance in June kicked off a flurry of calls for the president to withdraw.
“The incompetence of spending your time fighting ‘Pod Save America,’ David Axelrod, George Clooney, and the most popular figure in the Democratic Party at a time when you were struggling with Black voters is f**king insane,” Pfeiffer said, referring to Obama.
A New York Times report Wednesday described Biden’s advisers as dismissing the “Pod Save America” co-hosts as “operatives who worked for a cerebral, cool-guy president and never understood the world according to the scrappy kid from Scranton.”
Favreau said that Biden’s team has “bigger f**king fish to fry.”
“What are you spending time on us for? Go f**king just beat Donald Trump or … help your candidate be on message,” he said.
The Democratic Party continues to wrestle with not only Biden’s reelection bid but also its ability to hurt the party in down-ballot races. More than a dozen House Democrats and one Democratic senator have asked the president to step aside. Meanwhile, many anxious Democratic donors are withholding big checks, and George Clooney, one of Biden’s biggest supporters, publicly called for him to bow out earlier this week.
The president, for his part, has vowed to continue. Speaking at a high-stakes news conference on Thursday, Biden promised to make his case and “persuade people to move our way or people are already there.”
“I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears by seeing — letting them see me out there,” Biden said.
The-CNN-Wire
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