LOS ANGELES — If you're a Democrat with money to burn and friends in high places, you can spend thousands on tickets to a fundraiser with President Joe Biden. If not, read on to see what you're missing.
With the election year upon us, Biden is accelerating his fundraising in preparation for an astronomically expensive campaign. (Think billions, not millions.) In this rarefied world, money equals access, and devotees regularly pay top dollar for a personal glimpse of the most powerful man in the world.
Biden is raising cash in the Los Angeles area this weekend, and his first stop was a sprawling estate where the host joked “it's just a normal Friday at our house” as hundreds of donors sipped wine in the backyard.
“You are the reason why, God willing, we are going to win in 2024,” Biden told the crowd.
Each fundraiser is a little different, but generally they follow a similar script. This is what it looks like during the presidential money chase.
Fundraisers offer a rare glimpse into the lives of the country's richest and most influential people. Biden's motorcade has rolled out to a mountain villa in Park City, Utah, a mansion in Manhattan and a sprawling estate at the top of the Hollywood Hills.
In an apartment with floor-to-ceiling views of Central Park, reporters had to slip disposable covers over their shoes before they could enter the living room where donors nibbled on crustless tea sandwiches.
At Friday's fundraiser in Los Angeles, attendees wore colored wristbands indicating where to sit. The ushers held up red, green, blue and orange signs to direct them to the right place.
The press corps can only enter fundraising activities to hear Biden's formal remarks, and no cameras are allowed. When he mingles with fans or answers their questions, reporters are locked in a garage, home gym or spare room. Sometimes they just stay outside on the sidewalk.
The lucky host often gets the privilege of introducing the president. Most of the time these comments are predictably laudatory, but sometimes they get spicy.
Randi McGinn, a prominent New Mexico attorney, joked about the attractiveness of the president's Secret Service and referenced Donald Trump's flirtation with a porn star.
Biden smiled — or grimaced, it was hard to tell — and made the sign of the cross as she spoke.
The President always thanks his hosts and any elected officials present. When he sees children, Biden often jokingly warns them “this is going to be boring, boring, boring for you.”
Although fundraisers are often mundane occasions, careful reporters know how to remain attentive. Biden has a history of being more outspoken than usual when surrounded by supporters with deep pockets.
Biden upset China in June by describing President Xi Jinping as a “dictator” at another fundraiser in California. He also said Xi was unaware that a Chinese balloon hovering over the United States was being used for espionage.
“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset when I shot down that balloon with two wagons full of spy equipment is because he didn't know it was there,” Biden said.
In August, Biden peaked in Park City about his signature legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act.
“I wish I hadn't called it that,” Biden said, “because it has less to do with reducing inflation than it does with providing alternatives that generate economic growth.”
And on Tuesday in Weston, Massachusetts, the 81-year-old president suggested he might not seek reelection if Trump had not staged a comeback.
“If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I would be running,” Biden said. “But we cannot let him win, for the sake of the country.”
Donors pay top dollar to hear Biden speak at private events, but reporters can dredge up some of his well-worn lines from memory.
The president says he has “never been more optimistic” about the country, as long as we “remember who the hell we are.” He rattles off his legislative achievements, from limiting prescription drug costs to investing in infrastructure like roads and bridges. He says the rich should pay 'their fair share' in taxes. He warns that the US is at “a turning point.”
Mostly he talks about meeting Xi while they were both vice presidents of their respective countries. According to Biden, Xi asked him to define America. “I said, 'I can do it in one word: possibilities,'” Biden says.
A key part of Biden's fundraising is his story about his decision to run for president against Trump in 2020.
He talks about “people coming out of the woods, with torches in their hands” during the 2017 marches in Charlottesville, Virginia, and “chanting the same anti-Semitic bile that was sung in Germany in the 1930s.” When Trump said there were “very fine people” “on both sides” of the violence, Biden says, “that's when I decided I could no longer be silent.”
Fundraisers are an opportunity for Biden to rile up his supporters and score points over his opponents in a friendly environment.
He often says “this is not your father's Republican Party,” and he warns of “the far right, the MAGA movement,” referring to Trump's slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Sometimes he avoids mentioning Trump's name by making oblique references to “my predecessor.” But given Trump's position as the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, Biden has seen little reason to hold back.
He generally warns of the possibility of health care cuts or rollbacks of environmental programs if Trump wins next year. And he always keeps the focus on what he describes as a threat to the country's institutions.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” Biden said in Minneapolis last month, “are determined to destroy this democracy.”
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Megerian reported from Washington.