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11/15
What should have been just another gossipy report about the White House and its frustration with Vice President Kamala Harris gained credibility this weekend when key Biden aides took the time to acknowledge and rebut it.
CNN reported over the weekend that tensions between Biden’s team and Harris’s are growing. West Wing aides are allegedly exasperated with the dysfunction in Harris’s office and the vice president’s sinking approval ratings. Harris’s circle contends that she is not being put in a position to succeed. The result is that many top Democrats are starting to wonder whether Harris should run for the presidential nomination in 2024.
Stories like this crop up in D.C. media all the time. Everyone loves to read about White House drama and infighting, especially when there are bigger political implications.
But what makes this story unique is the White House’s reaction to it. Instead of simply ignoring the report and allowing it to run its course through the rumor mill, top Biden aides spent their Sunday evening trying to do damage control:
Chief of staff Ron Klain also shared several supportive messages for Harris, including this one:
Perhaps the White House thought these pro-Harris sentiments would send a message that Biden's and Harris’s teams are a unified front. But really, all they did was confirm tensions beneath the surface. Otherwise, why acknowledge the report at all?
There’s a communications lesson in this: If you don’t want a story to gain traction, don’t pay any attention to it. The White House did the exact opposite, suggesting that someone does indeed feel so self-conscious about Harris’s position in this administration that they feel the need to boost her
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