With simply days left in Joe Biden’s time period, the president is reflecting on his decades-long profession in public workplace and what he believes ought to be his closing acts earlier than Donald Trump replaces him within the White Home. In a wide-ranging interview with USA In the present day Washington Bureau Chief Susan Web page, the outgoing commander-in-chief weighed in on every little thing from preemptive pardons for Trump’s political enemies to his perception that he might’ve beat Trump a second time.
“It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes,” Biden stated when requested whether or not he might’ve gained the November election, citing polling information he learn. He shortly conceded, nonetheless, that he may not have had the psychological stamina to final a second time period.
“[W]hen Trump was running again for reelection, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him,” Biden stated of his 2020 run. “But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton.”
May he have fulfilled one other 4 years within the White Home had he been reelected in 2024? “I don’t know,” Biden stated. “Who the hell knows?”
A July evaluation from presidential scholar Martha Joynt Kumar discovered that Biden gave fewer sitdown interviews and press conferences than any of the final seven presidents on the identical level of their respective first phrases. That’s a giant purpose why Biden’s sole “exit interview” to print media shortly made the rounds on social media early Wednesday.
However a few of Biden’s claims are largely doubtful, together with the eyebrow-raising assertion that he might have defeated Trump. After his disastrous June 27 debate in opposition to Trump, shockwaves of hysteria got here from revered members of the Democratic Social gathering. Within the subsequent fallout, many pundits and journalists alike started calling on Biden to step apart and make room for a brand new Democratic nominee.
So it’s considerably exhausting to consider Biden’s assertion that polling supported his staying within the race. Whereas it’s potential polling could have underestimated the Democrats’ assist, the obtainable proof means that voters had been prepared to maneuver on from him. In actual fact, in a ballot performed virtually fully earlier than Biden dropped out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Gallup discovered that solely 36% of Individuals accredited of the job Biden was doing as president, in contrast with 58% who disapproved.
Extra not too long ago, in November, Jon Favreau, who was the pinnacle speechwriter for then-President Barack Obama, revealed on his “Pod Save America” podcast that inner polling from Biden’s workforce confirmed Trump successful 400 votes within the Electoral Faculty if Biden remained within the race. That will have made for the largest electoral-vote victory since 1988.
Past a second, hypothetical matchup with the president-elect, Biden additionally informed USA In the present day that he’s nonetheless mulling preemptive pardons for a few of Trump’s sworn enemies, together with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Ailments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a December report from Politico, which cited senior Democrats acquainted with the continuing discussions, Biden’s workforce is debating throwing a bone to a few of the folks whom Trump has publicly threatened with prosecution—a listing that additionally contains Harris and Obama.
Whereas Biden informed USA In the present day that he virtually begged Trump to not goal these folks, it’s unclear if his message fell on deaf ears.
“I tried to make clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores,” Biden informed Web page. “[Trump] basically just listened.”
In the meantime, on his moderately spectacular home legacy, Biden expressed optimism that he’d be remembered fondly.
“I hope that history says that I came in and I had a plan how to restore the economy and reestablish America’s leadership in the world,” Biden stated. “That was my hope. I mean, you know, who knows? And I hope it records that I did it with honesty and integrity, that I said what was on my mind.”
Biden added that he hopes Individuals will bear in mind him as a president who took an financial system that was “in disarray” and set it again heading in the right direction “in terms of the new sort of rules of the road.”
That is true. In the course of the finish of his tenure, the nation is experiencing record-low unemployment and slowed inflation. The issue for Biden is that forward of November, few Individuals appeared to suppose the financial system was in a great place. And now, trying ahead, it appears that evidently individuals are much less bullish on the truth that Biden might be remembered positively—not to mention as somebody who restored America’s financial system.
Based on a Gallup ballot fielded in December, simply over half of Individuals (54%) consider that Biden might be remembered as a “below average” or “poor” president, in contrast with 19% who suppose he’ll have an “outstanding” or “above average” legacy.
After all, it wouldn’t be an actual exit interview if Biden didn’t point out his largest desires, fears, and hopes concerning a second Trump administration. Certainly, the specter of Trump looms massive over Biden’s exit, particularly for the reason that president-elect has largely dominated the information cycle since his win in November.
And when requested what his best worry is for Trump’s second time period, Biden didn’t maintain again.
“On the economy, my single greatest fear is that he will try to, and maybe even succeed, in eliminating the elements of the climate law,” he stated. “That he’ll succeed in kicking back the restrictions on drug manufacturers. That he’ll cut programs and infrastructure.”
At the least up to now, many of those issues appear probably beneath Trump. Let’s simply hope a few of his wildest Day 1 pledges don’t come to fruition.
