President also regrets picking Merrick Garland for attorney general, as he was slow to prosecute Trump for January 6

Joe Biden regrets having pulled out of this year’s presidential race and believes he would have defeated Donald Trump in last month’s election – despite negative poll indications, White House sources have said.

The US president has reportedly also said he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garland as attorney general – reflecting that Garland, a former US appeals court judge, was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January 2021 insurrection while presiding over a justice department that aggressively prosecuted Biden’s son Hunter.

With just more than three weeks of his single-term presidency remaining, Biden’s reported rueful reflections are revealed in a Washington Post profile that contains the clearest signs yet that he thinks he erred in withdrawing his candidacy in July after a woeful debate performance against his rival for the White House, Trump, the previous month.

  • kandoh@reddthat.com
    133·
    7 days ago

    They all, all reference the exact same quote each article.

    “If Biden is elected,” a prominent adviser to the campaign said, “he’s going to be 82 years old in four years and he won’t be running for reelection.”

    The adviser argued that public acknowledgment of that reality could help Biden mollify younger voters, especially on the left, who are unexcited by his candidacy and fear that his nomination would serve as an eight-year roadblock to the next generation of Democrats.

    By signaling that he will serve just one term and choosing a running mate and Cabinet that is young and diverse, Biden could offer himself to the Democratic primary electorate as the candidate best suited to defeat Trump as well as the candidate who can usher into power the party’s fresh faces.

    None of that was official, it was all just the campaign’s attempt to shore up an issue they had without an actual commitment and you fell for it.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      111·
      7 days ago

      None of that was official, it was all just the campaign’s attempt to shore up an issue they had without an actual commitment and you fell for it.

      That’s not a failure of the media, that’s a deception by the campaign. Unless you think the media lied about a prominent advisor saying that, they did their job.

      If they were off the reservation, there should have been a firing, but just because they’re putting out statements through unofficial side channels doesn’t make it not a message from the campaign.

      • kreskin@lemmy.world
        31·
        7 days ago

        off the reservation

        that phrase was used to describe native americans who ventured outside of the confines of the reservations they had been forced into. You can imagine what happened to them if caught. That phrase has a dark, dark, history.

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      7 days ago

      Well, then they should’ve repudiated it a lot sooner (i.e. during the 2020 campaign), because to allow the misconception to exist is tantamount to confirming it.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      7 days ago

      None of that was official, it was all just the campaign’s attempt to shore up an issue they had without an actual commitment and you fell for it.

      Vote for us! We lied to you!

      Yeah, great look.

      • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        I am amazed of the mental gymnastics.

        “Can you find proof of this?”

        “Yes, dozens of reputable sources give proof.”

        “Well that’s not good enough, what I meant was you’re a moron for never thinking a 78 year old man with dementia would be great for 8 years as the hardest job in America.”