A Hollywood Heavyweight Is Biden’s Secret Weapon Against Trump
When President Biden made clear last year that he was planning to run for another term, some important Democratic contributors expressed doubt. He was too old, they feared. He was not up to another four years.
It fell to Jeffrey Katzenberg to tell them they were wrong. When some still did not believe him, Mr. Katzenberg challenged them to come to Washington and find out for themselves — then arranged to bring the dubious donors to the White House to sit down with the octogenarian president to convince them he was still sharp enough.
“He was like, ‘Trust me. And if you don’t trust me, trust, but verify. Come with me and see for yourself and engage with the president,’” Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a longtime ally of Mr. Katzenberg, recounted in an interview. “And he started doing that in a consistent way.” In the end, Mr. Newsom added, “He really was instrumental in getting people off the sidelines and getting them to dive headfirst in this campaign.”
Few have dived headfirst into the president’s re-election campaign more thoroughly than Mr. Katzenberg. The longtime Hollywood mogul known for “The Lion King” and “Shrek,” among many others, Mr. Katzenberg has been one of the most prolific cash generators for Democratic presidents for a generation. On Saturday night, he will bring Mr. Biden together with former President Barack Obama, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jimmy Kimmel for a star-studded fund-raiser in Los Angeles, following the $26 million fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall in March he arranged with Mr. Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
While Mr. Katzenberg has not solved Mr. Biden’s age problem by any means and Biden aides noted that some of those he brought to the White House did not need convincing, his efforts to validate the president with the well-heeled set have helped build a war chest that has been outpacing the Trump campaign. But he has gone far beyond his past political work, joining Mr. Biden’s campaign as a co-chairman and investing himself fully in the effort to defeat former President Donald J. Trump.
He can be found in the halls of the West Wing offering advice and counsel. He was at Camp David the weekend before the State of the Union address, helping the president prepare for his nationally televised speech. He pushes the campaign to tape reaction videos of the president for social media and connected Biden aides with writers to help come up with jokes for the president to deliver at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
