Biden is reportedly going to replace longtime loyalist Ron Klain with Obama administration retread Jeff Zients as his chief of staff, sources familiar with the decision informed Politico on Sunday.
“He’s held a number of high-level positions across the Obama and Biden presidencies — experience that allies argue makes him among the most well-prepared Biden advisers for the all-encompassing chief of staff job — but will take over amid a divided government, an increasingly contentious debt ceiling fight and a likely launch of a reelection campaign,” reports Politico. “Zients has maintained close ties to departing chief of staff Ron Klain and other senior Biden aides dating back to the Obama administration, when he did stints atop the National Economic Council and Office of Management and Budget.”
Some on the left are disappointed in the pick, not only because Zients is white, male, and heterosexual, but also for his corporate background and poor handling of the pandemic. Zients served as White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator until April 2022.
Read Related Also: Senator Lidia Thorpe quits Greens
“We have long argued for a ‘corporate crackdown’ on behaviors that violate federal laws and harm the American people in order for corporations to become richer. Those are the practices that have made Zients rich,” Jeff Hauser, the found and director of Revolving Door Project, said in a statement. “We’re deeply worried that Zients will prevent the administration from exercising power righteously on behalf of an already cynical populace.”
As if anyone Biden would pick would do that.
