Ron Klain Spars With Liberal Columnist Over Biden’s Chances: Media ‘Always Bet’ on Candidates Who Lose

Ron Klain, who served as White House chief of staff during the first half of President Joe Biden’s term in the Oval Office, sparred with New York Magazine‘s Jonathan Chait on X, f0rmerly Twitter, Monday.

The exchange began with Chait sharing a link to his latest column alongside the caption “Do Democrats really think Trump is a civic emergency? I’m starting to have some doubts.”

In the article itself, Chait submits that some Democrats believe Biden is ill-suited to beat Donald Trump in November’s general election, but are nevertheless refraining from calling on him to step aside for selfish reasons.

“If Democrats truly believe Biden is their best chance of stopping Trump, they should stick with him,” he wrote. “But if Biden holds on because his fellow Democrats refuse to speak up, I am going to have serious doubts as to whether they simply miscalculated or whether they decided to save their own skins at the expense of their country.”

Back on X, Klain objected to the premise, tweeting “Maybe I think the best way to put out the fire is having someone who has successfully defeated the threat previously.”

Maybe I think the best way to put out the fire is having someone who has successfully defeated the threat previously https://t.co/J8MkZdmWg5

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) July 8, 2024

Chait replied by observing that he is “explicitly not addressing this to Democrats who genuinely (if absurdly) believe Biden is their best candidate,” prompting Klain to double down.

“As someone who has been involved in two campaigns ( now a third) to defeat Trump it takes the right candidate to get that done Pundits have always bet on verbally gifted opponents — Ds and Rs — who have lost to him Only one person has beaten him,” he shot back. Notably, while Klain did participate in Biden’s successful 2020 campaign, the first effort to which he refers was Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful bid back in 2016.

As someone who has been involved in two campaigns ( now a third) to defeat Trump it takes the right candidate to get that done Pundits have always bet on verbally gifted opponents — Ds and Rs — who have lost to him Only one person has beaten him

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) July 8, 2024

Chait seemingly remained unconvinced of Klain’s theory of the case for Biden, retweeting a fellow at Georgetown’s Government Affairs Institute who mused that “There’s a gallows beauty in watching someone assert a dubious monocausal theory for a past outcome, and then confidently assume the experiment will replicate under largely different conditions.”

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