President Joe Biden is having regrets about ending his reelection bid over the summer and immediately throwing his support behind his vice president, Kamala Harris, because he believes he “could have defeated” now-President-elect Trump despite horrible polling numbers.
The Washington Post, allegedly quoting several people close to Biden, also reported that they said the outgoing 46th president had other regrets about his four years in office.
“Biden and some of his aides still believe he should have stayed in the race, despite the rocky debate performance and low poll numbers that prompted Democrats to pressure him to drop out,” the paper reported.
“Biden and these aides have told people in recent days that he could have defeated Trump, according to people familiar with their comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Aides say the president has been careful not to place blame on Harris or her campaign,” the Post added.
The outlet also said that Biden regrets choosing Merrick Garland as his attorney general, accusing him of slow-walking the two prosecutions against Trump while allowing his son, Hunter Biden, to be charged on federal gun and tax charges. Biden reportedly chose Garland as a consensus pick based on advice from his aides, the Post said.
The president pardoned his son on Dec. 1 in a highly suspect and unusual action dating back 11 years to Jan. 1, 2014 — when then-Vice President Joe Biden was placed in charge of dealing with Ukraine as it entered a tumultuous period while Hunter began a very lucrative stint as a board member for a Ukrainian energy giant.
The two federal cases against Trump have unraveled since last month’s election, with additional cases in New York and Georgia collapsing following his election to a second term.
Sources close to President Biden told the Washington Post that he holds no regrets about participating in the June debate against Trump, despite the subsequent pressure from within his own party that ultimately led to his decision to withdraw from the race.
He does, however, reportedly regret his dazed and confused performance:
Biden acknowledged that he had “screwed up” in his June 27 debate against Trump, as he struggled to put together sentences and defend his policies as his rival held forth with a series of falsehoods and called him a criminal. (He does not regret participating in the debate — just his performance that night).
Trump ultimately defeated Harris by a margin of 2.2 million votes.
Even when he dropped out, Biden still believed he could beat Trump – whom he defeated for his first term in 2020, according to The New York Times in September.
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., may disagree, however.
Clyburn, who met with Biden earlier this year, told the Post that he had told the president, “Your style does not lend itself well to the environment we’re currently in,” while speaking of style versus substance.
Meanwhile, Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, told the Post: “How to govern at this moment to set the U.S. up for long-term success has one answer, and how to govern to deal with midterm and presidential elections in the very short-term might have a different answer. The president went with doing the things that really put America in a strong position.”
Other Democrats placed the blame for Harris’ loss on party leaders including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), including Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.
During an interview with Politico, Fetterman went after Pelosi when asked if he thought Biden should have dropped out of the race after the terrible debate with Trump in late June.
“People like [Nancy] Pelosi, she really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this ‘she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer.’ And now she’s blaming Biden,” Fetterman said.
“Well, you can’t have it both ways. You got what you wanted,” he added, referring to Biden’s ouster and the installment of Harris, “and now you’re still blaming Biden.”
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