In 2020, it was Covid. Four years later, it's Gaza.

Joe Biden won't be running a normal campaign.

When the coronavirus started spreading across the country in March 2020, President Joe Biden abandoned large campaign rallies for the perceived safety of his basement and a handful of socially distanced outdoor events. Given questions about his age and vigor, many have been wondering if Biden would run a more normal campaign this year. Well, it looks like we have our answer — he won’t. According to exclusive NBC News reporting, Biden will be eschewing major campaign events — including at universities — in order to avoid protesters angry about Gaza:

President Joe Biden’s team is increasingly taking extraordinary steps to minimize disruptions from pro-Palestinian protests at his events by making them smaller, withholding their precise locations from the media and the public until he arrives, avoiding college campuses and, in at least one instance, considering hiring a private company to vet attendees.

The efforts have resulted in zero disruptions at events the White House or the campaign have organized for Biden in the five weeks since he was interrupted a dozen times during an abortion rights speech in Virginia. But they have also meant that Biden is appearing in front of fewer voters and not personally engaging with some of the key constituencies whose support he is struggling to gain, such as young voters.

“He’s better in small venues,” a Biden ally said, citing retail politics as “where he thrives.”

“But the downside is that means he doesn’t reach as many voters,” the person added. “The point is to reach as many voters as you can, and those small events don’t.”

A Biden campaign aide told NBC News that “the small-events tactic” will “continue in perpetuity.” In addition to hiding from the press, Biden will be hiding from voters — and that includes the young voters threatening to stay home or vote for RFK if their concerns aren’t addressed.

Perhaps a second diminished presidential campaign would be acceptable if Biden were ahead in the polls, but he is not. The incumbent president is losing to former president Donald Trump in all of the most important swing states and over three quarters of voters believe he is too old to serve a second term. More voters believe Biden has hurt than helped them. A campaign focused on small events with pre-screened attendees and few unscripted moments will do little to reassure voters that the president is up to governing the country until January 2029 — and it will do little to provide skeptical voters with opportunities to ask questions of their president. Furthermore, the light campaigning will be contrasted with Donald Trump — someone whose age is less of a concern for voters — doing hours-long rallies to adoring crowds. The political punditry writes itself.

Journalist Matthew Yglesias — one of Biden’s strongest defenders among the liberal intelligentsia — wrote last month that the president is “currently losing the election” and his campaign could potentially be salvaged with “a communications strategy that involves a stronger presence of Joe Biden.” Fearing Gaza protesters, however, the Biden campaign is doing the opposite.

President Biden’s campaign is indefinitely planning small campaign events — with few details released in advance — to protect him from anti-war protesters.

In 2020, when everyone was trying to spend less time in public, there was quite a bit of tolerance and understanding for Biden’s basement campaign. The president got the benefit of the doubt from voters who sympathized with an elderly man fearing the novel coronavirus. I doubt Biden will receive the same grace in 2024, just because his aides are worried that he might lash out at anti-war protesters screaming “Genocide Joe” from the audience. Moreover, it’s not unreasonable for voters to wonder if these protester-avoidance strategies are partially about providing Biden with an excuse to avoid intense “normal” campaigning that he can’t physically handle.

Regardless of the dominant reason, Biden is choosing to execute an impoverished campaign strategy at a time when he needs to bring everything to the mat to beat Donald Trump — and sick burns on social media won’t be enough to compensate.