How Biden and historian Jon Meacham 'bonded' over 'threats to American democracy': report
Historian and presidential biographer Jon Meacham, who has been a frequent guest on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," is great at looking at the big picture. Ask him to weigh in on the political events of 2023, and he is likely to make his points by mentioning U.S. presidents of the past — from Democrats Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy to Republicans Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln.
Meacham isn't anti-conservative per se; he obviously enjoys talking to "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough, a Never Trump conservative and former GOP congressman. But he has been an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, which he views as overtly authoritarian.
Meacham, a 53-year-old Gen-Xer and Episcopalian from Chattanooga, Tennessee, has helped write speeches for President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), but he has Republican ties as well. The Bush family chose Meacham as a biographer for President George W. Bush, and his next book will be a biography on Eisenhower.
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In an article published by Axios on March 3, journalist Alex Thompson emphasizes that rhetorically, Meacham has had a strong influence on Biden. The Democratic president, according to Thompson, wanted to hire him for his administration. But Meacham was unavailable.
Thompson reports, "President Biden has grown so close to his volunteer muse, Jon Meacham, that he tried to bring the presidential historian into the White House…. Meacham is preparing to dive into the life of President Dwight Eisenhower for his next book. So a government gig doesn't appear to be in the cards, but the overture reflects their warm relationship."
Biden has had a lot to say about the MAGA movement's disdain for democracy, and according to Thompson, Meacham has influenced the way Biden addresses that crisis.
"As threats to American democracy rose," Thompson explains, "the theme became a Biden signature, with Meacham helping supply the rhetoric. Meacham's 2018 bestseller, 'The Soul of America,' has driven a recurring theme for Biden, and echoed Biden's 2017 op-ed about the 'soul of this nation.' The president has used the phrases 'soul of America' or 'soul of this nation' in big addresses. The two bonded over their shared belief that Biden is a historically consequential figure in the fight to preserve American democracy."
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Read Axios’ full report at this link.
