Biden team ramps up strategy for dealing with more protests — from the left and the right

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s advisers and Democratic Party leaders have been preparing for more than the usual political protests on the campaign trail this year, from both the left and right, and recently began crafting a plan to address it, according to four people familiar with the planning.

As part of the strategy, Biden advisers are seeking to confront dynamics that only recently emerged: an uptick in protests of the president’s policy on the Israel-Hamas war and demonstrators making it difficult for guests — and in at least one instance, a host — to attend the events.

Such instances have become more frequent as the war in Gaza continues with Biden’s steadfast support for Israel. On Wednesday, pro-Palestinian protesters were dragged and carried out of a United Auto Workers event in the middle of the president’s speech. A day earlier, Biden was interrupted by demonstrators calling for a cease-fire more than a dozen times during an event his campaign had promoted as his kickoff to the general election. The apparent coordinated effort included intermittent chants of “genocide Joe,” forcing the president to deliver a choppy marquee speech. 

Afterward, one Biden aide said it is “less than ideal” whenever such disruptions happen, but “totally unfortunate” when they overshadow a key presidential message.

While protests are an evergreen in political events for Democrats and Republicans alike, Biden is confronting an uptick in disruptions from within his own party because of one specific policy decision. The protests risk undercutting a core Biden campaign message: that he brings unity and stability to the country unlike his expected GOP opponent, former President Donald Trump, who has sought to exploit divisions inside the president’s voting coalition. And as a candidate running on a promise to protect American democracy, including free speech, Biden faces a particular challenge in limiting how disruptive protesters are without taking too heavy a hand, his aides said.

To navigate the issue, Democratic officials have tapped a veteran in advance planning for campaign events to help oversee a new approach, according to Biden officials, who expect more protests throughout 2024.

Doug Landry, who has worked on planning logistics for several presidential campaigns, has been tasked with helping find a way to allow for critics of Biden’s policies to freely express their views, but not to the extent that overwhelms campaign events…