Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau criticized the Biden-Harris campaign’s rhetoric throughout the race and called President Joe Biden’s decision to run again a “catastrophic mistake.”
On the “Pod Save America” podcast, Favreau spoke about the election’s outcome with his fellow hosts, explaining that Biden kept praising the candidate’s historically robust economy and that “clearly, 70, 80% of voters don’t believe that.”
“Joe Biden’s decision to run for president again was a catastrophic mistake. It just was. He and his inner circle, they refused to believe the polls, they refused to believe he was unpopular, they refused to acknowledge until very late that anyone could be upset about inflation,” Favreau said during the podcast.
“And then after the debate, the Biden people told us that the polls were fine, and Biden was still the strongest candidate. They were privately telling reporters at the time that Kamala Harris couldn’t win. So they were shivving Kamala Harris to reporters while they told everyone else, ‘not a time for an open process,’” Favreau continued.
Favreau also pointed to the Biden campaign’s internal polling numbers showing that Donald Trump was going to handily defeat him.
“Then we find out when the Biden campaign becomes the Harris campaign, that the Biden campaign’s own internal polling at the time when they were telling us he was the strongest candidate, showed that Donald Trump was going to win 400 electoral votes,” Favreau added.
Throughout the contest, the president consistently rejected surveys that indicated he was lagging behind Donald Trump, the winner of the presidency. The president told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that pollsters told him the election was neck-and-neck before he decided to withdraw from it and after a poor debate performance.
“All pollsters I talk to tell me it’s a toss-up. And when I’m behind… there’s only one poll I’m really far behind, CBS poll and NBC, I mean, excuse me,” Biden said at the time.
Before the debate, “Pod Save America” co-host Tommy Vietor cited a number of instances in which the president failed during his campaign for Harris, citing polling that indicated voters believed Biden was too elderly for a second term.
Biden would have performed worse in the election than Harris, according to Dan Pfeiffer, another co-host of their show.
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This comes as Republicans won the White House and U.S. Senate as well as kept control of the U.S. House.
By securing its 218th seat on Monday—the number required for a majority in the lower house—Decision Desk HQ predicted the GOP will retain the House, The Hill reported.
The outcome is a significant victory for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who rose from the shadows to become the leader of the House GOP in both legislation and campaign infrastructure.
Republicans defeated a number of vulnerable Democratic incumbents while preserving some of its most vulnerable incumbents, such as Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.). Businessman Rob Bresnahan beat Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), while state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) ousted Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.).
Some GOP losses were offset by those outcomes. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) and three first-term New York Republicans, Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Marc Molinaro, and Brandon Williams, lost their reelection campaigns.
With ballots still being counted for a number of California races, the ultimate House breakdown is still up in the air. However, it is anticipated that Republicans will enter the next Congress with yet another narrow majority.
These precise figures will have a significant impact on Johnson’s political future, the policies that Republicans can implement, and the operation—or lack thereof—of the lower house.
Trump gave the Speaker a shoutout in his victory speech from Palm Beach, Fla., in the early hours of Wednesday: “It also looks like we’ll be keeping control of the House of Representatives. And I want to thank Mike Johnson. I think he’s doing a terrific job.”
