Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. It started during the campaign. If JOE BIDEN’s aides wanted to get the greenlight on a social media project, the most surefire way was to go to Biden’s 20-something granddaughters, who have become his go-to digital validators. If NAOMI or FINNEGAN BIDEN saw a video or liked a post and told Biden about it, it was just as valuable, if not more, than any amount of data proving its effectiveness, according to Democrats familiar with the dynamic. The digital team was sometimes given directives based on what Biden’s granddaughters were suggesting. Naomi and Finnegan have maintained that informal role in the new administration, encouraging the president to go beyond his normal media go-to’s like New York Times columnists, local television stations, and network and cable news anchors. “Anything digital he does is purely because his granddaughters tell him to,” said a Democrat familiar with the dynamic. A White House official was less definitive but acknowledged the influence of the Gen Z Bidens on their 78-year-old grandfather. “The President talks to his grandkids all the time, and of course he looks for their advice and input on how to reach young Americans and connect with people online,” the official said. (In addition to Naomi and Finnegan, Biden’s grandchildren include MAISY, a college student; NATALIE and HUNTER, who are in their teens; and baby BEAU.) Naomi and Finnegan’s influence is seen in the fact that as both a candidate and as president, Biden has been game to try out at least some new things, although digital strategists still wish he’d do more. He has participated in videos with influencers like the beauty-focused “Manny MUA” and today he met with pop star OLIVIA RODRIGO. In both cases, Biden was encouraging young people to get vaccinated and the influencers promoted the message on their own channels. Naomi, Biden’s oldest grandchild, became an internet surrogate of sorts for him during the campaign, participating in video conversations with influencers like CAZZIE DAVID , the daughter of comedian LARRY DAVID, who has nearly half a million Instagram followers. She told David that she has often shown her grandfather internet memes of himself. “He literally thinks they’re the funniest thing ever. He’s obsessed with them, will ask me to show him more,” Naomi said. Now in the White House, Biden has agreed to deputy chief of staff JEN O’MALLEY DILLON’s push to set aside about 15 minutes each week for the digital team to make content, according to a senior White House official (it’s not always the same day but he makes the time, they said). O’Malley Dillon and adviser ANITA DUNN have been the biggest internal supporters of ROB FLAHERTY , who ran digital on the campaign and now heads the White House office of digital strategy. Flaherty has been a big proponent of putting Biden on alternative platforms and mediums. Some Democrats close to the White House worry that the digital team will have less influence once Dunn leaves, which she has said will happen soon. That’s in part because the Biden team largely has a more old school mentality when it comes to media. For example, many in Biden’s orbit see local news as a not necessarily sexy but ultimately critically important form of media outreach that too many politicians dismiss. That has at times put them at odds with some of the more digitally-inclined strategists. And it was part of the reason that Biden outspent DONALD TRUMP on television by well over $100 million as Trump still outspent Biden online. That campaign dynamic is also seen in the White House. The easiest interview request to get approved is one for local TV, according to Democrats familiar with the process. The White House declined to say how many local TV interviews administration officials have done, but it is an enormous focus of the Biden White House, just as it was during the campaign. Flaherty’s team of roughly twenty people is about the same size or just a smidge bigger than the digital team at the end of the Obama administration in 2016, when digital was still a relatively new component of political comms. There have been bumps too, with one of Flaherty’s original team members quietly leaving the White House earlier this year. Many Democrats close to the White House think the team should be far larger given how much more powerful social media has become in the past five years. They also point out that JEFFREY ZIENTS’ Covid-19 team has only one digital person, CLARKE HUMPHREY, at a time when the White House is struggling to convince many young, digital-first Americans to get vaccinated. Still, past White House digital officials think Flaherty and his team are being innovative. “More [staff] is always good. But I wrote a thing during the campaign about how the owned and operated channels (wh IG, Twitter) will consume as many bodies as you can ever throw at it,” JASON GOLDMAN , who had Flaherty’s job at the end of the Obama administration, wrote in a direct message on Twitter. “This is harder work in part because it moves at a different cadence than the rest of the building,” Goldman added. “But it appears they’ve figured out a way to do that which frankly was something I struggled with.” Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you CAITLIN JARVIS? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: westwingtips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here. | 
