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Biden’s Answer To ‘Four More Years’ Casts Doubt On His Possible Reelection Bid

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


President Joe Biden appeared to shrug off someone who asked for “four more years” of his presidency and at the same time cast doubt on it.

It happened at the end of his speech at the White House Tribal Nations Summit on Wednesday after someone in the crowd shouted “four more years.”

“I don’t know about that,” the president appeared to respond.

The statement, if correct, appears to contradict previous statements by the president, his vice president, and his press secretary.

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“The president, as you know, has been asked that question many times, and he has answered it,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in June. “His answer has been pretty simple, which is, yes, he’s running for re-election. I can’t say more than that.”

“My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,” the president said in September on the CBS show “60 Minutes.” “But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has been asked point blank if she believes that a ticket of herself and President Joe Biden could defeat former President Donald Trump.

After she gave a speech aboard the Philippine Coast Guard ship Teresa Magbanua she was asked by reporters about Republican House Minority Leader and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s campaign to be speaker and Trump announcing his campaign for president, Mediaite reported.

“Madam Vice President, would you support the new House Speaker — U.S. House Speaker visiting Taiwan?” the reporter said.

“Oh, I’m not going to speak to that. I think that — first of all, I don’t think that we have actually made a decision yet about who is the House Speaker? Or did that happen while I’ve been here?” the vice president said.

“It did not yet happen,” the reporter said.

“Okay,” the vice president said.

“Madam Vice President, a little (inaudible). The former President Trump, while we were about to come here, announced that he would be running again for the presidency. I wonder if you have a response to that announcement and whether or not you and President Biden on the ticket will beat him,” another reporter said.

“Well, as the President said, he intends to run. And if he does, I will be running with him. And I have no doubt about the strength of the work that we have done over these past two years,” the vice president said.

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“We have delivered unprecedented relief for the American people through the height of the pandemic.

“We have passed an infrastructure law that many have talked about, but we actually did it.

“We just recently, with the Inflation Reduction Act, did a number of things, including bringing down the cost of healthcare — not to mention $370 billion in the climate crisis, which is one of the reasons that I’m here in the Philippines, because the climate crisis is an issue that requires leadership around the globe and, in particular, I would say, America’s leadership,” she said.

“But do you think a President Trump — former President Trump candidacy is good for the country, good for America?” the reporter said.

“I am thinking about, right now, what we need to do in the Indo-Pacific. Thank you for the question,” she said.

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It comes at a time when many Democrats have had concerns about President Biden campaigning for the presidency at age 82 and concerns about Harris as Vice President on the ticket.

Rumors are flying that some allies of President Joe Biden have suggested replacing Vice President Kamala Harris. In a scathing piece published by Slate, Christina Cauterucci noted how “we are stuck with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris” for now but that Biden may be able to “change that” going into 2024.

“Harris’s presidential campaign will be remembered as one of the worst of that election cycle. Internally, it was a disastrously mismanaged mess. Externally, it offered a series of mixed messages, short-lived slogans, and attempts to backpedal along the ideological spectrum. Her dazzling presence in planned speeches and gotcha moments flickered out when she was forced to think—and relay a coherent policy position—on her feet. It was a spectacular letdown that contained a lesson about electoral politics: candidates who looks promising on paper can easily flounder under pressure,” Cauterucci added.

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