Joe Biden entered America’s highest office on a pledge to unite the country, strengthen the party, and protect democracy.
Instead, the 82-year-old’s Oval Office crowd will divide the country, tear down political parties and make Americans question the self-proclaimed institutionalist’s respect for the rule of law.
Many Democrats have accused Biden of handing the White House to Donald Trump, accusing the older politician of staying in power too long and reeling after his son’s pardon. Compounding frustration, Biden recently expressed doubts about his ability to serve another four-year term, after dismissing voters’ concerns about the very issue on which he is running for re-election.
The president harbors similar resentment toward members of his own party. People with direct knowledge of his comments said he had privately considered the idea of pardoning President Trump as a clemency measure after the November election, but it was unclear whether he was seriously considering it. It’s not clear. “To our knowledge, no such issues have been raised,” a White House official said. At the same time, Biden is at odds with some of his closest allies.
It’s all an ignominious end to 50 years in public service.
“Joe Biden’s story is one of the great tragedies in American politics. I really do. He should have a glorious, well-deserved and highly regarded retirement. And he hasn’t.” said James Carville, a veteran Democratic political strategist. “It’s hard to blame anyone but him.”
Mr. Biden plans to write a separate book that will provide an opportunity for him to share his views on his presidency and its conclusions. Even though polls in 2023 showed Democratic voters did not want him re-elected, he had support within his party and announced his candidacy anyway. He was then forced to resign in July following a cataclysmic controversy that appeared to expose his cognitive status. Her late resignation gave Vice President Kamala Harris just 107 days to build an ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Trump.
Biden has given fewer interviews throughout his presidential term than his recent predecessor, and will end his term in the same way. There are no plans to hold a traditional final formal press conference.
White House press secretary Andrew Bates said he was proud of the number of interviews and impromptu Q&As Biden has given with reporters.
The White House has a “morgue-like” atmosphere, according to a person who recently met with White House officials. Biden leaves office feeling that he contributed to an important victory for this country that the American people do not appreciate. According to two people close to him, in his private life, he oscillates between melancholy, resignation, anger, and melancholy as he reflects on his accomplishments.
“He’s completely depressed, and so are the people around him,” said another source close to the president. One White House official said the somber mood was due to Trump’s impending return to the Oval Office, and Biden’s aides cheered when he surprised him at a staff party earlier this week. He pointed out that he received a warm response.
Another White House official said staffers are holding back their emotions until January 20 actually arrives.
“It’s hard to look back and realize what’s finished here until you’re actually done and walk out the door,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Ta. That’s how they feel… It hasn’t sunk in to the people who are still here because we’re working until the last moment. ”
Many broken friendships of unity
Mr. Biden, an elder statesman who was once supposed to be a bridge to the next generation of leaders, leaves office with various rifts. He has become estranged from some of the people who were once among his strongest allies. Along with First Lady Jill Biden, he harbors simmering anger toward former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and several former aides, including Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn. , he thinks that all of them have either let him down or forced him out of power. A race in 2024, according to people close to him.
Mr. Biden has not spoken to Mr. Dunn in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. Dunn was one of the few prominent Democrats prepared to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 if she decided to launch a campaign to challenge her for the party’s nomination. . Dunn left the White House over the summer as part of the fallout from Biden’s performance in the June debate.
The relationship between Mr. Biden and Mr. Bauer, Mr. Dunn’s married partner and longtime personal attorney, has also deteriorated since the debate and tension surrounding the criminal trial of his son Hunter Biden, according to people familiar with the matter. Neither Bauer nor Dunn attended a large black tie dinner the Bidens hosted in November to thank longtime supporters.
After Bauer leaves office, he will no longer represent Biden, three people familiar with the decision said.
Asked about the deteriorating relationship between Dunn and Bauer, a Biden aide said, “Anita and Bob are well-regarded and loyal to the president.”
Pelosi’s aides said that since Biden urged her to end her candidacy in July, she and Pelosi have passed each other at social events but have not had any substantive conversations.
“The relationship has been permanently damaged,” said a source close to Biden.
Mr. Biden has not directly expressed his dissatisfaction with Mr. Obama to Mr. Obama, according to a person familiar with their conversations.
One former Obama aide, who publicly argued after the June debate that Biden should step down, said this week that Biden will name an aircraft carrier after former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. , but noted that he had never bestowed a similar honor on Mr. Obama.
“Barack H. Obama didn’t get a goddamn troop carrier named after him,” Ben Rhodes said on the podcast “Pod Save the World.”
Before leaving office, President Obama surprised Biden by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in an emotional ceremony at the White House.
Asked about the president’s dissatisfaction with Pelosi and Obama, White House Press Secretary Bates said, “President Biden’s focus is not on what happened during the campaign, but on making as much impact as possible on the lives of American families.” “We are squarely focused on making a difference.” ”
Family drama hits the White House
By pardoning Hunter Biden on federal gun and tax charges, Biden reversed his promise to uphold the norms that underpin the nation’s stability. The president denounced “raw politics” in his son’s prosecution, saying it “damaged this process and led to a miscarriage of justice,” using language often used by Trump.
Mr. Biden was surprised and furious by Democratic criticism of the pardon, according to people familiar with his reaction. Dunn was among those who publicly criticized the move.
Throughout his term, Biden has felt a tug of war between his White House aides and his family. Among the family members, a team that includes Dunn, former White House aide and then-campaign chairman Jen O’Malley Dillon, and longtime aides Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, have been working well with the president. Some felt that they had not. This was especially true as the 2024 campaign was in full swing, with Mr. Trump gaining support among voters while Mr. Biden’s approval ratings continued to slump.
Biden did not make any changes to his team until he withdrew from the 2024 campaign. In the weeks and months following that gut-wrenching decision, anger among some of the family’s inner circle intensified.
In some cases, it flowed both ways. Dunn and Bauer were furious at being so casually removed from the president’s inner circle and specifically blamed two members of the Biden family, Hunter Biden and Jill Biden.
The family drama may continue into the next administration. Some on the president’s staff are bracing for a possible congressional investigation into Hunter Biden’s pardon and accusations of the White House’s denial that administration officials covered up the extent of Biden’s mental decline.
unknown hero
Biden claims he has set the country up for long-term economic success after passing major legislation through Congress, even if Americans aren’t feeling the benefits now. He also sees his efforts to unite U.S. allies around Ukraine after the Russian invasion as an important foreign policy achievement.
In a major development on Wednesday, Israel and Hamas signed a cease-fire agreement after 15 months of devastating war in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack. is. Mr. Biden worked for months to get a cease-fire agreement, but he now shares credit with Mr. Trump for the deal, given that the two teams coordinated the series of negotiations that secured the deal.
When reporters at a news conference on Wednesday asked whether Biden or Trump deserved the credit for the ceasefire, Biden turned, smiled and said, “Are you kidding me?”
White House Press Secretary Bates said of the president’s accomplishments during his time in office, “President Biden has demonstrated his unique qualities and dedicated himself to serving the American people. The result is the strongest record of any administration in modern times.” said.
Critics have relentlessly criticized Biden for softening border policy early in his administration, leading to a spike in illegal border crossings. He then tightened controls at the border, but public opinion was already against him.
Some Democrats said Mr. Biden missed the mark early on on the economy. Pete Giangreco, a veteran of Democratic presidential politics, says he should have spent more time criticizing greedy corporations than trying to convince people the economy was actually better than they thought.
“From the day he stepped into the White House, there was always an internal struggle. Is he Joe from Scranton, a populist, a unionist? Or is he a corporate-friendly senator from Delaware? Joe?’” Giangreco said. “He could never decide who he was. If he had been Joe from Scranton from day one and remained Joe from Scranton from day one, it would have turned out differently. Maybe.”
Lynn Vavreck, an American political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Biden has paid a political price for the pandemic-era policies of the past two presidents. Many voters were accustomed to the subsidies provided by the Trump and Biden administrations and saw prices rise once they were removed, but this occurred long after President Trump left office. It was a double whammy.
“They believed they were better off financially under Trump,” Vavrek said. “That’s probably the case for a huge number of people because of all the government stimulus and aid programs.”
But another longtime ally, prominent Democratic donor John Morgan, cited massive investment in infrastructure, a booming stock market, low unemployment, and an “excellent ride” through the pandemic. He said it was natural for Mr. Biden to feel bitter about the lack of fuss since taking office. ”
“I think, objectively, it’s been a great presidency. You know they believe that. You can hear it in the president’s voice,” Morgan said. “When I look at all the statistics, I’m like, ‘Why can’t you all carry me on your shoulders?'”
In the short term, none of these have done much to sway the hearts of the people. Biden is expected to leave office with a 36% approval rating, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday. Trump has suffered from low approval ratings throughout his term, and is now particularly wary of leaving office without improving his standing with the American public, two people familiar with the matter said.
In an alternate world, one in which Biden would have stepped down as the 2023 Democratic nominee, the president would have ridden a wave of praise in his final weeks, cutting the ribbon at the airport that bears his name. He probably saved hundreds of millions of dollars for his presidential campaign. Mr. Carville proposed establishing an Ivy League policy center in his name.
“Joe Biden achieved a lot of success in his life. Unfortunately, your last act will be remembered,” Carville said. “Now he is remembered as the man who stayed too long.”
