Joe Biden Campaign Reportedly In Talks With Prominent ‘Never Trump’ Republicans
Former Vice President Joe Biden‘s team is holding secret talks with prominent “Never Trump” Republicans, reports The Daily Beast.
According to the report, the Democratic Party‘s presumptive presidential nominee — who is known to boast about being able to collaborate with Republicans — is looking to capitalize on the anti-Donald Trump sentiment in elite conservative circles. Preliminary talks have reportedly been held, but it remains unclear what form the “Republicans for Biden” movement will take.
“It is literally just forming. I’ve had several conversations with people who have approached me. It’s going to take off, it’s going to happen. The question is to what degree and form it does,” a former Republican Party official told the publication, noting that the situation is still very fluid.
Nevertheless, certain names are being floated as potential members of the yet-undefined group of pro-Biden Republicans. Former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, conservative media personality Bill Kristol, political analyst Charlie Sykes, former Rep. David Jolly, operative Steve Schmidt, and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael are all reportedly interested in joining the movement.
Longtime GOP operative Jennifer Horn confirmed that the talks are indeed “happening.” Horn said that she has been asked to join the group, but declined, choosing to focus her efforts on the Lincoln Project, a super PAC opposed to Trump. She noted, however, that most anti-Trump Republicans are still wary about joining the effort.
“It’s really hard to get people to take that last step. To publicly say and do something. You need five or ten people who are all ready to go at the same time,” the operative said.
Some are reportedly concerned that the Biden campaign does not have the ability to organize such a movement. Pointing to the difficulties Biden’s campaign has had with organizing virtual town halls, a GOP source said that “a coalition like this has to be knitted together very carefully because it can very quickly fall apart and everyone is made to look stupid.”
Former Rep. Joe Walsh and former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party Fergus Cullen are skeptical about the Biden campaign’s alleged plan. Both argued that prominent Republicans will not want to join the effort. As The Daily Beast notes, despite claims that an anti-Trump sentiment is developing on the right, “Never Trump” Republicans have not even been able to recruit a primary challenger to the president.
The Republican electorate does not seem to be interested in the Biden campaign’s supposed pitch. According to Gallup, Trump’s approval rating among Republican voters is exceptionally high. In April, 93 percent of Republicans approved of the president’s job performance. In general, his approval rating among Republicans has seldom dropped below 85 percent.
Recent polling from The Hill and HarrisX suggests that Biden and Trump are virtually tied in the race for the White House.
