Andrea Mitchell Addresses the Dem Party as “Surrounded by White Men in Their SIXTIES”
“Surrounded by White Men in Their SIXTIES”
Before Thursday’s CNN Presidential Debate, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell asked on-air on Monday whether President Biden made a mistake by surrounding himself with a group of senior advisors who are “all White men in their 60s”.
In an interview with Adrienne Elrod, a senior spokesman for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, Mitchell made the remark. Elrod joined “Andrea Mitchell Reports” to talk about Biden and former President Trump’s perspectives before their much awaited face-off.
Mitchell brought up a recent New York Times piece at the close of the interview, which described the advisors that Biden has come to depend on in his effort to stay in the White House. Under the heading “The Insiders: 3 Men at the Core of Biden’s Brain Trust,” the story identifies three key members of Biden’s inner circle: former Sen. Ted Kaufman, longtime advisor Mike Donilon, and former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.
“The president’s closest advisors, longest-serving advisors, informal and official advisers are all profiled as White males in their 60s or older; former senator Ted Kaufman, who is 85 years old, is among them. Is it too solitary?” Asking Mitchell.
Elrod retaliated by criticizing Trump’s economic policies and border policies before standing up for the president’s closest advisors.
“I’ve known them for ages. She informed Mitchell, “These are devoted, obedient public servants with a wealth of experience who were a key member of the team that really helped put some of these significant economic policies in place during President Biden’s first term in office.”
“They are longtime allies of the president; of course, they should be there in debate prep,” she said.
Elrod continued by saying that the president is surrounded by “plenty of other women,” such as longstanding advisor Anita Dunn and former deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, who will make sure he is well prepared to face his political rival on live television.
“He’s got the team around him that is going to make sure he is most prepared for this debate,” she said to Mitchell.
Although Biden has gathered a “diverse group of advisers” in the lead-up to November, according to the New York Times piece, few have the “influence of three men in his inner circle during his final campaign.”
According to reports, Biden speaks with Donilon “multiple times a day” to review the most recent surveys and stories. He apparently “seeks out” Kaufman when he departs for Delaware on weekends, and he calls Klain “once a week” to discuss “the best attacks” to deploy against Trump in the next debate, according to the Times.
The Times piece was released soon after an Axios article quoted Democratic strategists and advisors to President Biden expressing worries about the direction the campaign is taking due to Biden’s close circle.