The White House’s disastrous crisis communications could have serious consequences

Joe Biden

The document affair could be dangerous for the US President.

(Photo: imago images/ZUMA Wire)

Washington Until recently, everything seemed to be going well for the US President. His approval ratings rose, inflation figures fell. The Republicans raked in the House of Representatives, which made Joe Biden’s Democrats look more serious. The president, it was whispered in Washington, would soon announce his candidacy for re-election. But since last week everything has changed. From now on, the Biden presidency must be divided into two periods: before and after the disclosure of the document affair.

The state of emergency is reminiscent of the phase surrounding the Afghanistan withdrawal in the summer of 2021. However, external circumstances contributed to the chaos at the time, not all mishaps were blamed on Biden, and his reputation eventually recovered. The document affair, however, is self-inflicted.

Because if Biden’s team had been transparent about the secret papers from the start, the excitement might not have been half as great. Instead, the White House only gives bits and pieces of detail, revealing a shocking misjudgment of the public’s image. As if the Democrats had learned nothing from Hillary Clinton’s email scandal.

The first secret papers from Biden’s time as Vice President of Barack Obama were found on November 2 last year, shortly before the important congressional elections. According to the law, the documents should no longer have been in Biden’s possession. A second installment surfaced on December 20th. All of this was only revealed to the public a few days ago. This Saturday, the White House finally corrected the number of documents upwards again, once again an important detail came to light with a delay.

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The longer the scandal simmers, the more the impression arises: the White House is bricking and Biden has something to hide. It is becoming less and less important whether the illegally stored documents were actually just an oversight on the part of his employees – as president in office, Biden cannot be impeached anyway.

The verdict of the citizens is more dangerous for him. In a country where conspiracy theories thrive faster than mold on damp walls, the White House should have gone on the offensive from the start, not months later.

He gives his opponents ammunition

Biden is now at risk of losing his biggest pound, namely that he is trusted by the majority of Americans. The clumsy handling of the document affair contrasts with Biden’s image as a political professional who takes protocols and national security seriously. It is quite conceivable that the crisis will thwart Biden’s plans for the future, perhaps even prevent him from running again.

FBI Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation can drag on for months. Strategically, Biden is giving ammunition to those Democrats who don’t want to see him as a candidate for 2024 anyway – and Republicans anyway.

Biden has often been underestimated. As a candidate, he was considered by some to be too old, too white, too moderate. But in the past two years he has initiated many reforms, and in view of the Ukraine war, Europe can be very glad that Biden, not Trump, is sitting in the White House.

Maybe Biden will surprise again and survive this scandal. But sometimes, as American history teaches us, a single event is enough to throw a president off track. The documents affair could be that event for Biden.

More: How Biden’s document affair differs from Trump’s secret paper finds

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