News/Commentary

Jason Chaffetz points out ‘five indications Joe Biden will not run in 2024’

August 21, 2023 | | Print Article

According to Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz, there are “five indications” that President Joe Biden will not be seeking a second term, not the least of which is “he appears to be campaigning from the beach.”

“Though Biden was mocked for seemingly campaigning from his basement in 2020, this summer he appears to be campaigning from the beach,” Chaffetz wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News. “That’s where he spent the weekend while Maui burned, and serious presidential contenders drummed up support at the Iowa State Fair.”

Another clue to Biden’s real re-election commitment is evident in his “skeleton crew of staffers,” Chaffetz says.

“Though Biden has begun hiring fundraisers for the 2024 campaign, his operation is a tiny skeleton crew of staffers working exclusively out of his home state of Delaware,” he writes. “That puts them closer to his homes near Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, but far from the center of gravity in swing states or the nation’s capital.”

The president “had just four people on the payroll” as of last quarter, Chaffetz notes, “all working out of the party offices.”

With just five months before the first primary votes are cast, there “seems to be little urgency to mount a full-scale campaign,” the former Utah Rep. states.

Then there’s Biden’s choice of travel destination.

“A serious candidate would have campaigned in Nevada, Colorado and Montana,” says Chaffetz.

Instead, Biden spent the month of August “in vacation mode.”

“Not only did Biden skip the traditionally all-important Iowa State Fair, he traveled to Utah,” writes Chaffetz. “My home state always welcomes the president of the United States, but we’re hardly a battleground state.”

As for Biden’s gaffe-filled trip to the Grand Canyon, Chaffetz says, “with the election ramping up, his new wilderness grab does nothing to expand his base in critical Arizona. In fact, it polarizes voters.”

And what about Biden’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris?

“Though she has visited Florida and picked fights with GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, Kamala Harris has been largely invisible through the first three years of the Biden presidency. Unless she makes a gaffe, she seldom makes news,” Chaffetz states. “There is talk of deploying her to help with very specific demographic groups during the campaign, but as of now, we haven’t seen much of her on the trail.”


Making Biden’s 2024 bid for the White House even more questionable according to Chaffetz was his “fiddling while Maui burns.”

Writes Chaffetz:

Biden’s inextricable response to the Maui fires from his vacation on the beach of “No comment” ricocheted around the nation. Did he really not have anything to say to those desperate people fighting for their lives as he sunned himself on the beach? This was an opportunity for a president to flex his political muscle. Though the administration insists he has taken action, reports on the ground in Maui describe aid being blocked, properties being looted and FEMA being AWOL.

Finally, there is the problem with the president’s son.

Biden, says Chaffetz, is “hibernating over Hunter.”

“With real, substantive evidence surfacing that the president’s son took payments from foreign entities in exchange for access to his father, the campaign seems to be locking down,” he writes, adding, “Upon his return from Rehoboth Beach, Biden’s team cordoned off reporters far enough away that Biden could not hear their shouted questions as he turned his back to them.”

“Though this could be a basement-to-beach campaign strategy,” says Chaffetz, “it’s more likely that Biden will not run.”

“With few exceptions, we don’t see him on the campaign trail defending his presidency or touting his accomplishments in key battleground states. We don’t see his vice president making the case for him. He isn’t sharing his vision for the future,” he continues. “He is hiding – hiding from the press, hiding from the scandals and hiding from his own incompetence as a commander in chief.”

“By the end of this calendar year,” Chaffetz predicts, “I, for one, anticipate he won’t be a candidate in 2024.”

Melissa Fine
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