A newly leaked internal memo is sending shockwaves through Democratic circles — and revealing just how badly President Joe Biden’s team miscalculated the political risks heading into the 2024 general election. The six-page document, dated April 15, 2024, and now obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf for their upcoming book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” shows Biden’s top advisers actively pushing for an early debate with Donald Trump. The result? One of the most politically disastrous nights in presidential debate history.
In bolded, all-caps language directed at “YOU,” the memo urged Biden to bypass the traditional Commission on Presidential Debates timeline — the first debate was slated after mail-in voting began — and instead challenge Trump to a head-to-head showdown in June.
“By holding the first debate in the spring, YOU will be able to reach the widest audience possible,” the memo read. “The earlier YOU are able to debate the better, so that the American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership.”
The logic? Get ahead of the distractions of summer conventions, the Olympics, and family vacations. The goal was a knockout moment of confidence, clarity, and contrast.
Instead, Americans got the opposite.
My favorite part of this remains that his team has to constantly put “YOU” and “YOUR” in all caps so Biden didn’t get confused about who they were addressing. https://t.co/Mif0vHDsGM
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 7, 2025
During the June 27 debate hosted by CNN, more than 50 million viewers watched in real time as President Biden stumbled — literally and verbally — through what quickly became a 90-minute political collapse. Within 15 minutes, concerns about his mental acuity, which had been quietly whispered for months, exploded into a national crisis.
According to Playbook, the early debate memo was not unanimously supported. Some aides urged the White House to reconsider, citing growing internal concerns about Biden’s recent appearances. The book reports that one donor even called the White House in May “alarmed” by Biden’s performance at a Chicago fundraiser and begged staff to “find an excuse” to cancel the debates altogether. That warning was rejected outright.
Now, with Biden’s reelection bid in ruins and postmortems already underway, this memo offers a revealing glimpse into the misjudgments and blind spots inside Biden world. Far from a cover-up, this document shows a team doubling down on visibility, convinced that a nationally televised debate would prove their candidate’s vitality. It did the opposite.
The authors of 2024: How Trump Retook the White House promise even more revelations. Dawsey told Playbook the leaked document is one of several obtained from inside both campaigns, backed by “audio recordings, contemporaneous notes, and more than 350 interviews.”
And while the memo may silence claims of a total internal cover-up — after all, it recommended increased exposure, not hiding — it also exposes a deeper flaw: a campaign staff either unwilling or unable to face reality.
