President Joe Biden reportedly regrets pulling out of the 2024 presidential election, and believes he would have been able to defeat Donald Trump this past November despite a widely critiqued debate performance and declining support in the polls, White House sources said.
Biden’s grievances with the final months of his presidency have come to light in a Washington Post profile that displays his belief that “contains the clearest signs yet” that he thinks he erred in withdrawing his candidacy from the race in July.
The president also reportedly stated he made a mistake in choosing Merrick Garland as attorney general, asserting that Garland, a former US appeals court judge, was slow to prosecute Donald Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. This assertion was emphasized as Biden reflected upon a justice department that aggressively prosecuted his son Hunter Biden.
According to the Washington Post’s reporting, Biden had to be persuaded by his chief of staff, Ron Klain, to choose Garland, who at the time was best known as former president Barack Obama’s failed choice to succeed the conservative justice Antonin Scalia on the US supreme court, as his nomination was derailed by a Republican-led Senate. Biden then appointed Garland the day after a mob incited by Trump attacked the US Capitol in an effort that to overturn Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory that ultimately failed.
At the time, Biden said Garland would restore “the honor, the integrity, the independence” of the justice department after years of perceived politicisation under Trump.
Now however, Biden believes he should have chosen someone else, according to the Post. This is a view shared among many Democrats who believe Garland was too slow to investigate and eventually prosecute Trump for Jan. 6 and other charges related to resisting his defeat.
The delayed pace of the investigation resulted in Trump avoiding the spectacle of a widely publicized trial that would’ve been damaging to his political campaign. During the trial’s deliberate pacing, a special counsel, Jack Smith, was appointed, who formally applied last month for his two criminal cases against Trump to be wound up in view of his election victory, ending them by effect.
Less than a month after a woeful debate performance in June, after which he faced increasing pressure from fellow Democrats who cited his negative polling, President Biden withdrew from the race to be replaced as his party’s nominee by the US vice-president, Kamala Harris. Her nomination instilled hope among the party and supporters as her poll numbers steadily rose, yet the election ultimately ended in a decisive electoral college and popular vote defeat.
While Biden and his team have not blamed Harris for the election results, they apparently believe the result would have been different if he had stood his ground and remained in the race, according to the Washington Post’s reporting.
However, many of Harris’ supporters blame President Biden for waiting too long to withdraw, leaving Vice-President Harris with an insufficient amount of time left to mobilize a campaign that would’ve been successful enough to win the election. They also point out that Biden’s decisions to seek reelection violated his 2020 promise to be a “transitional” political figure who would pass the torch after steering the country away from another Trump presidency.
With just a few weeks left in his presidency, Biden’s reported grievances reflect an increasingly divided Democratic Party that has considerable disagreements regarding leadership and policy. Yet, it is still one united in its opposition of a conservative administration leading the country.
