What happened: Joe Biden's reelection campaign recently held a series of meetings with "influential Black women from around the country," during which the core Democratic constituency gave the president's team an "earful" and threatened to withhold their support for Biden absent "serious changes" to address their concerns.
What they said: "Black women who put [Biden] over the top in 2020 won’t turn out for him in 2024" unless his reelection campaign takes "immediate steps to engage Black women who feel disillusioned by the president's first term," Jasmine Wright of NOTUS reported on Monday.
• Members of the pivotal coalition demanded that Biden's team hire more "senior-level Black women" and deploy a more diverse array of campaign surrogates with "lived experience."
• "If they want Black women to really be on board, we need to see someone that mirrors us on that national level," Rev. Krista Alston, who co-organized a virtual meeting with Biden campaign staff, told NOTUS. "You've got to have representation."
• The group also suggested the Biden campaign spice up its "dull" merchandise offerings and offer clothing sizes larger than XXL in order to "appeal to a diverse range of supporters."
Why it matters: Biden is in trouble. The president's approval rating among black voters has dropped nearly 20 points since the start of 2023, according to an NBC News poll published in late November.
• Notably absent from the NOTUS report was any suggestion that black female leaders want Biden to step down after one term in order to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris, a mixed-race woman, to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Crucial context: Harris, one of the most widely despised vice presidents in American history, recently hired an anti-Biden gunslinger as her campaign communications director. Meanwhile, her stepdaughter Ella Emhoff has fomented anti-Semitism, and her husband Doug Emhoff has been ridiculed for inaccurate Hanukkah posts.
• One of America's most prominent black women, Michelle Obama, said she is "terrified" about the 2024 election, presumably because she doesn't think Biden has what it takes to win. The Obamas have consistently disparaged Biden's political talent.
• One of former president Donald Trump's most enthusiastic supporters, Rochelle "Silk" Richardson of the commentary duo Diamond and Silk, is a black woman. Her sister, Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway, passed away one year ago today. Rest in peace.