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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.

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[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago

Sour grapes. There are no guarantees he would have won, and the propaganda machine would have played almost exactly the same tune it did for Harris. Eggs, israel, gas prices, too old…

People stayed home. That’s why we got trump.

[-] Dkarma@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago

Not sour grapes.

Pure fucking delusion and narcissism.

We all watched the debate. There was no coming back from that.

[-] leadore@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Hell, he might be right (I doubt it but you never know). BUT better than either of those options would have been if he'd announced by 2023 that he would not be running for reelection (like he campaigned on!) so the Dems could have had a full field and competitive primaries. That would have given them the best chance to win (but would they have? kinda doubt that too).

I DO agree with his understatement that his Garland decision was a mistake. Not just a mistake, a disaster!

[-] ghen@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

He could have stepped down in 2022, given Kamala his last two years, and she would still be eligible for two more terms after that. She would have had incumbency, experience, and a younger face than the oldest guy who ever ran for president.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 19 points 6 days ago

Hey as long as we are talking about regrets Joe, how about regretting going for a second term when you said you wouldn’t?

[-] Sir_Simon_Spamalot@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

That dementia would probably won over him.

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 8 points 6 days ago

Citizen United says President Biden would not have won.

[-] dukeofdummies@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

On the bright side, centrists are getting split between Biden and Kamala.

Let them bicker amongst themselves for once. The rest of us can unite for once.

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I know grandpa I know. Now come drink your date juice

[-] AshMan85@lemmy.world 271 points 1 week ago
[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works -1 points 6 days ago

Depends how senile he would be or not be. What killed him was the debate, if there was another one and he was fully fine, then yeah a decent chance.

[-] inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world 77 points 1 week ago

But of course he would think that. 🙄🙄

[-] Omgboom@lemmy.zip 37 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I mean he might have, a lot of people that voted for Biden in 2020 did not vote for Kamala in 2024 for various reasons. Trump did only very slightly better in 2024 than be did in 2020. Would the people who stayed home and didn't vote for Kamala have gotten out and voted for Biden? Maybe. If anything though Biden should have dropped out sooner or not ran at all, the DNC should have fielded better candidates, instead they spent 4 years (longer) trying to strangle any progressives before they could become feasible candidates.

[-] dhork@lemmy.world 63 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The Joe Biden who showed up in 2020 would have beaten Trump. Joe Biden in 2024 is not the same guy.

The only real asset Joe had over Kamala, though, is a penis. For some voters, though, that's enough to make them pick one and not the other.

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[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 153 points 1 week ago

The US president has reportedly also said he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garlandas 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

At least that part is fair

[-] toddestan@lemm.ee 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'd say his first mistake was choosing Garland. Biden then made a second mistake when he didn't immediately fire Garland as soon as it became obvious that Garland wasn't going to do his job.

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's been absolutely appalling how long it has taken to prosecute Trump.
Many cases should have been ready the second he was no-longer president.
All the lame considerations about looks and not getting involved is idiotic. if the politicians in power don't work to defend democracy, who else should?
The left have been screaming for Democrats to wake up for more than a decade, but they behave like a party with dementia that doesn't understand what's going on around them.
As AOC has stated multiple times, people will come to vote for you, if you give them a good enough reason for it. Harris was the better more moderate candidate. But I think most Americans want more, they want real change. Like better healthcare, environment protection, democracy etc.
Preventing a fascist narcissist becoming president apparently wasn't enough?!

But maybe I'm wrong, maybe the majority of Americans prefer to live with the danger of not receiving healthcare, and the danger of being financially ruined by healthcare bills. Rather than living in a "socialist hellhole" where society actually care about the citizens?

The number one cause for bankruptcies in USA is healthcare bills.

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[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 114 points 1 week ago

Not a chance in hell.

It does highlight how out of touch those in the gerontocracy are, however.

[-] Erasmus@lemmy.world 108 points 1 week ago

Mr. I’m only gonna be a one term President seems to have a short memory, yet again.

Him and his staff misled and dragged their feet about his intentions early in then he went full out with ‘no I’m gonna run fuck you all’ and it turned into a disaster.

This is just one of the problems with the current Democratic Party. No one will work with and groom the upcoming young members to take control. The older party members literally do not have a clue what it means to step aside for the good of the party and the good of the country.

[-] Xanthobilly@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago

I wish this comment was higher. Biden betrayed the party and its chances of defeating Trump the moment he won the 2020 election and chose to not start preparing the nation on Jan 20th 2021 for a younger generation to lead. Merrick fucking Garland was the other, related, and just as large mistake. That one is totally on him.

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[-] Phegan@lemmy.world 62 points 1 week ago
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[-] zbyte64@awful.systems 56 points 1 week ago

His own staff had data that showed he would have lost even more electoral votes, giving Trump 400 instead of the 312. Biden is not aware of this data though. Kind of makes you think his staff is still heavily censoring what he sees.

[-] irotsoma@lemmy.world 55 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

No, all the problems left of fascists have with Kamala were even moreso with him. The only way Democrats could have won was to hold a fair primary which they haven't done in a long time. They needed to get people voting for a candidate and not against the other guy which has been the strategy of both parties for ages, but doesn't work well when one side has people voting for him and your side actually wanted to vote against you, but were never given an alternate.

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[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 55 points 1 week ago

"Benedict Arnold" developed a clear connotation over time. The same needs to become true for "Merrick Garland". History will remember him as a coward beyond measure and a key to enabling trump's final push to end American democracy.

Fuck Merrick Garland, without exception.

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[-] grue@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I would say "wow, the dementia is even farther along than we realized" but it's likely the entire neoliberal faction that will be determined to come to this erroneous conclusion. They will grasp at any straw, even racist/sexist ones, in order to avoid admitting that the electorate is crying out for anti-corporate change.

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[-] hark@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago

This ghoul was propped up in 2020 with the full force of the party and then won thanks to covid, but he thinks he's some hero. Democrats lost in 2024 in large part thanks to him. Fuck you biden, you racist, genocidal, and power-hungry piece of shit.

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[-] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

So… I take it he’s completely forgotten that disastrous debate by now huh? It was pretty clear to even the most fervent Biden supporters that he wasn’t going to win. When even those folks were telling him to resign, it as done by that point.

If anything, staying in would’ve driven more people to Trump or caused them to stay home due to disillusionment.

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[-] eran_morad@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago

He’s a colossal fucking failure.

[-] pachrist@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago

Hey, hey. Rude of you to call the guy who was supposed to save us from another 4 years of Trump but then delivered it anyways a failure. All he did was tread water for 4 years and then hang on to power way too long, simultaneously tanking his own campaign, and making it much more difficult for someone to follow him.

[-] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

Rude of you to call the guy who was supposed to save us from another 4 years of Trump but then delivered it anyways a failure.

Biden literally kept a lot of Trump's policies in place, kept his tax cuts in place, and did things Trump was considering despite public outcry, like limiting COVID protections and telling the CDC to stop covering it.

[-] aaron@lemm.ee 35 points 1 week ago

What a prick. No ownership of his candidacy-destroying debate performance. And thanks for taking so long to withdraw after you fucked that to the moon. Let him be the basis for age ceilings on presidential candidates.

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[-] veganpizza69@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

His regret should be that he left so late.

[-] Doom@ttrpg.network 33 points 1 week ago
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this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2024
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