Joe Biden still thinks he was a better pick to lead Democrats through the 2024 election than Vice President Kamala Harris.
The president told USA Today that he would have won reelection in a rematch against Donald Trump.
Biden, 82, acknowledged his age was an issue, and even admitted he’s not so sure how the four years would go after he won this hypothetical second term.
‘So far, so good,’ he said. ‘But who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?’
In late July, Biden reluctantly ended his reelection bid and endorsed his No. 2 to take Democrats over the finish line in November. But Harris, who never won a primary election, failed to garner support and lost in historic fashion to Trump – including all seven swing states.
Biden said in his exit interview about his single term as president that if he stayed in the race, he likely would have beat Trump again.
‘It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes,’ Biden claimed, citing polling he reviewed.
Asked whether he had the vigor to serve another four years in office, though, he was less confident.
‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Who the hell knows?’
A spokesperson for Trump’s transition clarified that Trump essentially already defeated Biden after he was forced to end his reelection campaign after their debate this summer.
‘President Trump beat Joe Biden after delivering the greatest debate performance in history, and he beat Kamala Harris in a landslide on Election Day,’ Trump-Vance Transition Spokesperson Anna Kelly told DailyMail.com.
‘The American people are united behind President Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again, and he will carry out his historic mandate to undo all the damage Biden brought upon our country starting day one.’
Biden is the oldest president ever elected, taking office in January 2021 at the age of 78 and ending his term at 82.
A now 78-year-old Trump, however, will beat that record. He will be sworn in later this month a few months older than Biden when he first took the oath of office.
Democratic Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) told CNN that the latest comments are not advancing the party.
‘That line would not have helped Democrats,’ the outgoing Pennsylvania lawmaker claimed. ‘The age issue, the competence issue, that debate performance, those were all huge mitigating factors against Joe Biden.’
Despite Trump and Biden’s advanced ages, there were many more concerns over the current president’s mental acuity and fitness for the hardest job in the world.
That was on full display during the duo’s first and only debate in June, where Biden stumbled, mumbled and, at times, completely froze or lost his train of thought. Trump walked away the clear and triumphant winner.
Democratic leaders were immediately worried that Trump would destroy Biden in the election in November based on their head-to-head performances on the debate stage. This included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who urged him to withdraw from the race.
It’s highly unprecedented for a presumed presidential nominee, who won the primary election, to step out so late in the campaign. And there was outcry from Democratic voters who didn’t want to see Harris elevated to the nomination and from those who demanded an expedited primary race was necessary to replace Biden.
But no such contest took place, and Harris was officially nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois in August.
Biden said he never intended to run for president after the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in 2015, as the president was then finishing off his second term as Barack Obama’s VP.
‘I had no intention of running after Beau died − for real, not a joke,’ Biden told USA Today.
But he said ‘when Trump was running again for reelection’ in 2020 ‘I really thought I had the best chance of beating him.’
‘But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old,’ he admitted. ‘And so I did talk about passing the baton’ to the next generation.