Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden on the top of the Democratic ticket and was handily defeated by Trump, who’ll be sworn in for a second White House stint on Jan. 20.
“Biden ran on the promise that he was going to be a transitional president, and in effect, have one term before handing it off to another generation,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) told The Washington Post.
Biden and some of his aides have boasted to confidantes “in recent days” that the president should’ve stayed in the race and could’ve won a second term, the Washington Post reported Saturday citing multiple anonymous sources briefed on the conversations.
Repeating claims made in the Bob Woodward book “War,” The Washington Post reported Biden has also been telling confidantes he shouldn’t have picked Merrick Garland as attorney general, whining the former US appeals court judge was too aggressive in prosecuting his son Hunter.
Biden in recent weeks has admitted to some of the myriad of gaffes he’s made in office, including that he “screwed up” during the debate and was “stupid” for not getting credit by putting his name on the pandemic relief checks his administration sent out in 2021 – as Trump did as president in 2020.
And Biden and his aides have also conceded the administration could’ve done a better job lifting Americans’ spirits during the pandemic.
Instead, the 82-year-old buckled to pressure by Democratic Party elites to drop out of the race in July because of poor poll numbers and his rocky June 27 debate performance, in which he gave incoherent answers and appeared to stumble over his words.
And Garland was apparently too slow for Biden in prosecuting Trump over the Jan. 6 riots – charges that were ultimately dismissed.