Alex Brandon/AP Photo
President Joe Biden appeared at a campaign fundraiser event with former President Barack Obama, June 15, 2024, in Los Angeles.
One of the narratives that an increasingly desperate Biden campaign has been promoting is the idea that “elites” are trying to deprive him of the Democratic nomination. Who are these elites?
You could argue that they include the elite media. But some of the most thoughtful commentaries suggesting that he retire have been written by people who have great respect for Biden and who write with great reluctance, such as E.J. Dionne or Tom Friedman. They are writing not as elitists, but as well-informed journalists appropriately concerned about a second Trump presidency.
Biden also resents members of the House who have called on him to stand aside. But these are not Washington elites in an echo chamber. They are elected representatives of the people, far closer to the pulse of public opinion than Biden and his (elite) inner circle. House members must face the voters every two years. They are reflecting what they are hearing from their alarmed constituents.
Ironically, the only true elites who have been pressing Biden to call it a day are the very millionaires and billionaires who have been financing his campaign. Until Biden’s recent stumbles, they were entirely in his corner. In their lifestyle, sheer wealth, and disproportionate power, they are indeed different from ordinary citizens, though they have one thing in common. A large majority of non-elite voters also think Biden is too old to run, win, and govern.
Here’s where the plot thickens. If Biden does agree to retire, these economic elites will indeed have far too much of a say over who succeeds him and what policies they pursue. Biden’s complaint about elites does shine a useful light on the excessive influence of big money on both parties.
The more that money dominates politics, the more that elected officials who should spend time with ordinary voters spend far too much time cultivating billionaires. As research by the political scientists Martin Gilens and Ben Page has demonstrated, the views of rich people are at odds with those of regular Americans on a whole range of economic issues, but the views of the rich tend to prevail.
Biden’s own economic program has been somewhat to the left of the views of many of the very rich people who support him nonetheless, because they are liberal on social and cultural issues and want to keep Trump out of the White House.
Biden is arguably turning in a more populist direction as he gets desperate to cling to power.
But one reason why Trump made it to the White House, and may do it again, is the sheer anomaly of the nominee of the party that puts itself out as the tribune of the people cavorting with the very rich at events like the glitzy L.A. fundraiser of June 15, where Biden’s feeble performance set off the chain of calls from his own donors for him to stand aside.
Quite apart from their pragmatic worries about whether Biden can win, these same mega-rich donors tend to be less than enthusiastic about some aspects of his program. Several standard Biden populist themes—corporate profits are excessive, we need to repeal the Trump tax cut, the wealthy can afford to pay more taxes, “I’m proud to be the most pro-union president in American history”—are not exactly applause lines with the donor class, even Democratic donors.
Biden is arguably turning more in that direction as he gets desperate to cling to power. In a speech in Detroit last Friday, Biden promised a “first hundred days” agenda for his second term that includes expanding Social Security and Medicare, eliminating all medical debt, raising the minimum wage, passing legislation to make it easier to join a union, making the expanded Child Tax Credit permanent, capping insulin at $35 a month for everybody, and investing in child care and elder care. These would be difficult to implement and would really require the elimination of the filibuster, which would be even more dangerous in the eyes of the forces of capital. Neutralizing populism may not be driving the donor class’s push to eject Biden from the race, but it’s certainly a nice side dish for them.
If Biden does stand aside, these donors will have outsized influence in the selection and program of a successor. They will be happier with a nominee who tones down the pocketbook populism. All of which will reinforce the Democrats’ distance from ordinary working-class voters, and the risk of right-wing fake populists like Trump getting elected.
So Biden got one thing right. Economic elites do have far too much influence: not on the broad-based calls for him to retire, but in American politics generally.
