Biden comes to grips with a diminished role on the campaign trail

President Joe Biden’s role in the 2024 presidential campaign in the final weeks of the election has been moved even further out of the spotlight as recent campaign trail gaffes prompted a range of responses – from eyerolls to outright anger – from some Harris campaign aides.

President Joe Biden’s role in the 2024 presidential campaign in the final weeks of the election has been moved even further out of the spotlight as recent campaign trail gaffes prompted a range of responses – from eyerolls to outright anger – from some Harris campaign aides. Planning for a range of Biden events had been up in the air late last week as the campaign worked to reassess how best to use the incumbent, who now plans to make several solo stops this week, including an infrastructure speech in Baltimore and an address to union members in Philadelphia. Biden’s impromptu attack on former president and GOP nominee Donald Trump in New Hampshire spurred a flurry of coverage outside the scope of the event, raising concerns among Harris aides and allies about singular comments getting amplified in the final stretch of the race. “We got to lock him up,” Biden had said, while speaking off the cuff to campaign workers in Concord, New Hampshire, before quickly pivoting to try to clarify his remarks. “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.” Then, speaking in Arizona on Friday, Biden referred to former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot in the head at a 2011 campaign event, in the past tense, suggesting she was no longer alive. While aides have previously brushed off such slips as “vintage Biden,” noting the president’s proclivity to misspeak, they also acknowledge there’s no room for error amid the frenzied news cycle and fragile balance of the race that has raised the stakes for each event in the final days.