Biden uses ‘shadow cabinet’ to counter Trump
Stuck in his Delaware home while President Trump appears on-screen daily discussing the coronavirus crisis, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is turning toward a shadow cabinet loosely resembling out-of-office party officials in Great Britain. The strategy devised by the former vice president's campaign is rare in modern presidential politics, since national emergencies and crisis situations, ranging from World War II to the immediate post-9/11 response, usually stir a strong measure of bipartisanship, at least for a while.
But Trump's coronavirus response has been so disastrous, Democrats argue, that Biden must provide a contrast and leadership during the global pandemic, which threatens millions of lives and could tank the economy to levels not seen since the Great Depression. In countries with a parliamentary system, opposition parties often establish their own cabinets to signify to the public that they are eager to govern should the ruling party lose power. In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party, for example, has shadow officials in charge of positions ranging from treasury to healthcare.
As Biden struggles to gain media attention during Trump and various governor's daily press briefings, the former vice president has pivoted to having various Democratic foreign policy and healthcare experts provide responses to the Trump White House's handling of the crisis. Earlier this month, his campaign announced that Ron Klain, the Obama Administration's Ebola response coordinator from 2014-15, would give periodic briefings on how Trump has failed to adequately protect the nation. In a video released Sunday, Klain slammed Trump's response to the coronavirus and walked through viewers how the virus spread throughout the country. “Some countries acted quickly,” said Klain, who also served as Biden's chief of staff during the first two years of the Obama administration. “What did President Trump do? He downplayed it. Trump’s slow response to this crisis is no surprise.”
As Trump participates in daily White House press conferences, Biden, 77, has responded with detailed policy briefings and plans of action should he become president. In a closed press call on Friday, which served as a dry run of his shadow briefings, Biden fact-checked Trump on a number of coronavirus responses. For example, Biden accused Trump of misleading the public on when it could expect its order of 500 million respirator masks. Although Trump touted the purchase order, Biden said it could take 18 months to arrive, according to several experts. “The United States has been far behind the rest of the advanced world when it comes to testing," Biden said, referencing Trump's assurances that America's testing capacity rivals those of Europe.
On Monday, Biden began his first in a series of events livestreamed from his home in Delaware. No cable stations aired his remarks, which included calls on Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act. "Donald Trump is not to blame for the coronavirus. But he does bear responsibility for our response," he said. "And I, along with every American, hope he steps up and starts to get this right." Recently, Biden added veteran Democratic policy adviser Jake Sullivan to his campaign. Sullivan served as a senior policy adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 White House run and worked under both Obama and Biden as national security advisers. The addition comes shortly before Biden announced a list of 100 national security professionals backing his third White House run.
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