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

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

[-] leadore@lemmy.world 14 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours 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!

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 19 points 16 hours 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 17 points 14 hours ago

Not sour grapes.

Pure fucking delusion and narcissism.

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

[-] Sir_Simon_Spamalot@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago

That dementia would probably won over him.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 17 points 18 hours 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?

[-] dukeofdummies@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours 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.

[-] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 21 hours ago

Biden: "I'm a one term president, stability in crisis."

Biden: "I don't care, fuck it, you only live once, I'm running again!"

People: "You said you were a one term canidate, you're old, you didn't do COVID well, you broke up strikes, you aren't protecting women's rights, trans people are under attack, Mexicans are still in cages at the border, Ukraine could use more help, you're doing a bad job at stopping weapons to Israel, rent is gone up, inflation is stopped bu not down, groceries are still expensive..."

Biden: "Shut up Jack, check this out!"

["Primaries" give him the win, flops at debate, hands things to Harris]

Biden: "Well I did what I could do. ...I would have won anyways, why be consistant with what I say and do? Now lemme pardon my son after I said I wouldn't."

[-] Yewb@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

Of all things the pardon of his son is reasonable that guy had a whole culture of assholes trying to find anything to get him in jail just to hurt Biden.

Then we find out the basis of the entire hunter controversy was a lie and the guy admitted it was a lie after the election.

So they ended up getting for like tax evasion I would be willing to bet 90% of congress would be guilty of similar things if brought under the same scrutiny.

[-] Kryptenx@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Reasonable, but not after you promise not to do it. That's the issue.

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 8 points 19 hours ago

Citizen United says President Biden would not have won.

[-] WilderSeek@lemmy.world 12 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

He likely would not have won. It surprises me how discrepancies in this election haven't been questioned, but at this point it may not matter. As for his choice of Merrick Garland. Yeah, that and not really doing much about unseating DeJoy was a mistake.

[-] vikingr@lemmy.world 12 points 21 hours ago

I just don't understand why Biden's family and those closest to him wouldn't have taken the time to be like "Joe, just shut your mouth. Cement your legacy as one of the best Presidents the USA has ever had, make some shit for Donald harder on the way out, and enjoy retirement."

Instead he's showing his whole ass. And for what? Once real history gets memory-holed by the fascists none of his whining matters anyway. He could have done a lot of good on his way out.

[-] bigFab@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

Yeah, why try too hard when everybody is gonna remember sloppy Joe anyways.

[-] Doorbook@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

I like genocide joe better.

[-] Sir_Simon_Spamalot@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Spineless Joe, anyone?

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 14 points 22 hours ago

Copium: The Final Frontier

[-] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 21 points 1 day ago

For an ancient venal egotist like Joe, the fact that Kamala lost is close to a best case scenario. He would've gotten completely waxed if he had stayed in... but now he gets to say he was forced aside by the party leaders (Pelosi, the Obamas etc.) and that is completely verifiably true, but he also gets to claim he totally would've won, which is very likely not true, but now we will never know.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

I'm reading the WaPo article it's based on and guys this is some pure grade bullshit. They start with 5d Chess; then they say people were unable to hear about his victories because of the media, they were unable to appreciate the best Covid recovery in the world; and yes, he claims he could have beaten Trump.

It's an incredibly flattering article for a man who was so far out of touch he called outrage over inflation the best recovery in the world. Yeah they managed a soft landing, but that shit didn't trickle down. We're on our second year of record breaking increases in homeless people. We don't give a goddamn shit about the stock market when we're shopping for used Recreational Vehicles to use as our primary housing. If families are choosing between utilities, rent, and food, then your Bidenomics message is going to do worse than fall flat, it's going to blow up in your face.

And the whole style over substance thing. Just holy shit batman, he broke the strike of workers who were (and are still) massively abused. He did that on prime time television. And then he negotiated for the office worker parts of the unions to get improvements and it's a complete submarine. Not only did he do the bad, he did no PR damage control, not even to show what little he gave the workers after he shut down their strike. At one point in the WaPo article someone mentions that Biden tried to run the country like it was 1972, and I agree with that statement.

Which brings us to the crux of his sins as a leader. He was unwilling to listen to the people he was supposed to be leading. At every turn he decided that he and his high paid advisors from the corporate world knew better then the people actually struggling. He might have thought he was playing 5d chess but he was losing at checkers... badly.

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 2 points 7 hours ago

best Covid recovery

It is very appropriate if they're framing COVID as a purely economic issue.

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

His regret should be that he left so late.

[-] kreskin@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

He could have defeated medicare too.

Seems like this is his way of arrogantly throwing Harris under the bus for his own historically low ratings, starting back in 2022 after Roe was lost. Theres no way he could have done better than Harris. With him running it would have been an even bigger blowout. He seems to think he could run a genocide against his parties wishes and then go on to win an election. Its idiotic.

[-] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day 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.

[-] xor@lemm.ee 13 points 1 day ago

of course he’s forgotten

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[-] xenomor@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago

That’s okay Joe, there is a lot of regret about your entire administration, and career, on all sides.

[-] hark@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day 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.

[-] TonyOstrich@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Things would have likely gone a lot better if the Ds would have had an actual primary. It's so frustrating.

[-] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 21 hours ago

Actual primaries are against what the DNC wants. 2016, 2020, and 2024 all had sham ones and argued in court "We don't have to have fair ones, it's mainly for show. We're a private organization, we don't need to abide by fair election practices."

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 55 points 1 day 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.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 24 points 1 day ago

And fuck Biden for picking a Republican as AG.

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[-] SulaymanF@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago

He spent so much time trying to make a good legacy that he forgot to actually do the right thing in the moment.

Garland knew he’d be accused of bias and selective prosecution, so Garland took slow and deliberate steps to make an ironclad case… only to be accused of bias anyway, and doing it so slowly that the charges expired.

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Garland was hired to slow walk the case so Biden could run as second worst to Trump again.

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[-] Phegan@lemmy.world 62 points 1 day ago
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[-] Fades@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

I almost believe it, not because he would have done any better but because America is too dumb racist and sexist

[-] AshMan85@lemmy.world 268 points 2 days ago
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[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 113 points 1 day ago

Not a chance in hell.

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

[-] eran_morad@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago

He’s a colossal fucking failure.

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[-] jeffw@lemmy.world 152 points 2 days 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 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours 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.

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