As the Biden administration continues to suffer low approval ratings and frequent setbacks, some are calling for President Joe Biden to make major staffing changes.
One prominent target is White House chief of staff Ron Klain, as critics say he has steered the administration into an ever-leftward position and a number of unforced errors.
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Most recently, Indiana Sen. Mike Braun called for White House staff term limits on Groundhog Day, calling for Klain and 18 other Biden aides to be drained from the swamp.
Braun isn’t alone. “Ron Klain has an army of Twitter trolls that he has decided are reality and he has decided to have President Biden become something completely different than the person who ran for office last year or who served for decades in the United States Senate,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said in a January statement as the White House was pushing to end the Senate filibuster. “President Biden ought to have the courage to stand up to his own staff and he ought to be enough of a man to apologize to the Senate and to the American people for the nonsense he said in Georgia.”
In a later statement to Fox News, Sasse said Biden “ought to fire his chief of staff immediately” over the filibuster fiasco.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn have both said it’s time for Biden to reconsider Klain, while South Dakota Sen. John Thune describes him as the “man behind the curtain.”
Much of the Klain criticism stems from his well-documented love of Twitter. Klain found himself in trouble after retweeting an MSNBC anchor’s description of the OSHA vaccine mandate as the “ultimate work-around” for the government, which the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited in its decision to stay the requirement.
Klain also reportedly upset West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin during negotiations over the doomed Build Back Better bill and leaked news of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement ahead of the official announcement, leaving the 83-year-old justice apparently blindsided when the news came out in the press.
But all indications are that Klain retains Biden’s full confidence, and the president isn’t known for an itchy trigger finger when it comes to staff changes. Asked about his staff during a recent press conference, Biden said, “I’m satisfied with the team.”
The pair have worked together since the 1980s, and Klain served as chief of staff during Biden’s time in the Senate and as vice president.
Historically, White House chiefs of staff don’t enjoy a long shelf life. Former President Donald Trump churned through four chiefs in four years, while former President Barack Obama had five over his two terms.
Even some Democrats have complained that Klain is pushing Biden too far to the left and undercutting his plans to be a centrist president who works across the aisle.
Such talk is premature, argues Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.
“I would be surprised if Klain leaves,” he said. “In a job like that, you have to give someone more than one year to prove his mettle.”
Klain should get at least another 12 months, Bannon argued, considering the topsy-turvy executive branch that Biden inherited.
As for the specific complaints about upsetting Manchin, arguably the most powerful man in the Senate, and sloppy social media, Bannon points to the bigger picture. Manchin was likely going to oppose Build Back Better no matter what, Twitter is a powerful platform that is useful to engage in even if it draws controversy, and Republicans were never going to praise the Biden White House staff.
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“Republicans are hostile to pretty much everything the Biden administration wants to do, so it doesn’t surprise me [that they want Klain fired],” Bannon said. “But…
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