A group of Biden's reelection campaign staff said in a letter that volunteers are upset with his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

In a letter published Wednesday on Medium, an anonymous group of Biden’s campaign staffers demanded the president call for a ceasefire in Gaza, citing concerns that not shifting his policy on the issue could hurt his 2024 chances.

“Biden for President staff have seen volunteers quit in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades feel uncertain about doing so for the first time ever, because of this conflict,” the Medium letter read.

“It is not enough to merely be the alternative to Donald Trump,” the campaigners continued. “The campaign has to shift the feeling in the pits of voters’ stomachs, the same feeling that weighs on us every day as we fight for your reelection. The only way to do that is to call for a ceasefire.”

    • Silverseren@kbin.socialOP
      2120·
      1 year ago

      The letter was organized by campaign staffers. Five of them confirmed the authenticity of the letter to West Wing Playbook. Those staffers, who were granted anonymity because of their concern of backlash, said they were motivated to organize their letter out of a sense of moral responsibility.

      https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/03/biden-campaign-anonymous-letter-israel-hamas-00133705

      Nice try though to ignore the issue.

      • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
        165·
        1 year ago

        I jumped to conclusions, at least someone has confirmed it’s legit. Wasn’t ignoring it but the astroturfing “Anon outside any verifiable or published source says” is a problem that keeps recurring.

        They are entitled to their opinions, and I’m not even in disagreement - the entire conflict is an abomination and horrendous… but I’m curious who they’d vote for otherwise. No one worth talking about in US politics would chart a different course.

        • Logi@lemmy.world
          7·
          1 year ago

          It’s much easier to hold your nose and vote for the (much!) less bad option than it is to decide to spend your time and effort working for their campaign.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
        62·
        1 year ago

        17 people is not a significant portion of his campaign staff, and the campaign hasn’t even mobilized for staffing heavily yet.

        • Silverseren@kbin.socialOP
          33·
          1 year ago

          The letter is the latest example of internal rifts not just within the Democratic Party but within the Biden operation over how to approach the conflict. Since the fall, a flurry of protest letters — often written without names attached — have urged the president to support a ceasefire. In November, 500 political appointees and staff members from 40 government agencies anonymously signed one letter, while another letter included the names of over 500 alumni of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. White House interns also sent a letter to the president and staffers on Capitol Hill have also sent similar letters to their bosses. Biden supporters have raised questions about the veracity of those numbers, noting that the anonymity makes it impossible to confirm.

          How about 500 people? Is that number more significant?

          • SCB@lemmy.world
            31·
            1 year ago

            Not particularly, no. Something to the tune of 2-3 million people volunteered for the Biden campaign in 2020