Mike Donilon Says Democratic Party ‘Melted Down’ After Biden’s June Debate at IOP

Michael C. Donilon, the chief strategist behind Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, said Democratic leadership “lost its mind” when they ousted Biden from the party’s ticket, arguing he was their best chance at keeping the White House.

“The Democratic primary voters chose Joe Biden to be the nominee of the Democratic Party,” said Donilon, a spring fellow at the Institute of Politics. “The Democratic party leadership, and the biggest funders in America, didn’t.”

In a wide-ranging post mortem at the IOP Thursday evening, Donilon remained adamant that the former president would “still be the best” for the job – despite his poor performance in a June debate.

“Lots of people have terrible debates,” he said. “Usually, the party doesn’t lose its mind. But that’s what happened — it just melted down.”

Donilon, a member of Biden’s inner circle for over 40 years, denounced claims that the president’s acuity and judgment declined as an “impression” perpetuated by the media.

“It was getting written as this fact, ‘Oh, Biden was mentally impaired,’” Donilon said. “I don’t know how much time any of those people spent with him — I know how much time I spent with him. I know what I saw.”

Despite his vocal defense of Biden, Donilon admitted the party’s failure to center the race on preserving democracy in the wake of Jan. 6 gave Trump the upper hand.

“We undercut our ability to bring our best weapons to the fight,” he said.

He also traced Biden’s woes back to the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the ensuing chaos, referencing his poll numbers before and after the event.

“You can see his numbers in the low 50s and when Afghanistan happened, they dropped and never recovered,” Donilon said. “So it actually was really consequential.”

But despite a prevailing narrative that Biden was a “weak” leader, Donilon said that strength on the international stage would be a hallmark of Biden’s legacy, citing his diplomatic efforts in Israel and his unwavering support for Ukraine.

“What I can tell you is every time I saw Biden overseas, especially in Ukraine and NATO, he was the voice in the room,” Donilon said. “He was leading that effort. They had enormous confidence in his judgment.”

On the domestic stage, however, Donilon said that inflation loomed large in voters’ minds, making it difficult for Democrats to highlight Biden’s policy wins.

“I knew we were really up against it when I went to a grocery store in Northern Virginia, and on the front door was a little sign: ‘Don’t blame us for the price of eggs,’” he said.

As his party reacts to the first month of Trump’s second term, Donilon said Democrats must refocus the public debate on issues beyond the economy.

“We need to argue with strength on a range of cultural questions which we don’t want to step into. There’s this line that says, ‘It’s always the economy, stupid.’” he said. “But I’m not convinced.”

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.