Former President Joe Biden’s recent media appearances have angered Democratic Party strategists seeking to move on and redefine their movement in the wake of last year’s devastating election defeat to Donald Trump, according to a report.
Biden, 81, stepped aside last summer to allow his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to run in his place amid widespread concerns about his supposed cognitive decline. However, she lost to Trump and granted the Republican a belated second term in the White House.
Coinciding with the victor’s first 100 days in office, the 46th president returned to the spotlight by granting interviews to the BBC and ABC’s The View.
“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that?” an energized Biden said of Trump and his threats to annex Greenland and Canada in conversation with Nick Robinson of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday.
“That’s not who we are. We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation.”
He also took his successor to task for engaging in “modern-day appeasement” in his handling of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I just don’t understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he’s going to take significant portions of land that aren’t his, that that’s going to satisfy him.”
Meanwhile, on The View, Biden, accompanied by his wife, former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, continued his attack, saying Trump “has done, quite frankly, a very poor job in the interest of the United States of America.” He went on to accuse him of “blowing up” NATO.
Asked why Trump was “fixated” on him, Biden won a warm round of laughter and applause from the studio audience when he answered sharply: “I beat him… I’m used to dealing with bullies.”
The veteran’s May media blitz may well boost his personal brand with the public at a time when a number of books are hitting the shelves dissecting last year’s disaster. However, according to The Hill, it has not been so well received by his old party’s strategists, who would prefer to move on rather than relitigate past hurt.
“Elections are about the future. Every time Joe Biden emerges, we fight an old war,” Democratic strategist and former Biden administration staffer Anthony Coley complained.
“Every interview he does provides a contrast to Trump that’s just not helpful for the Democratic brand, which needs trusted messengers and fighters who can reach independents and moderates and inspire the base. Joe Biden ain’t that.
“Honestly, what good does that do now? Many Democrats – from elected leaders to the party faithful – are just ready to turn the page. I just don’t think he understands how wide and deep this sentiment is.”
Steve Schale, an ally who once ran a pro-Biden super PAC, added: “There is a way for President Biden to build his post-presidency, but this isn’t it.
“I really wish he’d embrace the thing that’s been his calling card for 50 years: his humanity.”
Schale suggested Biden would be well advised to follow the example of the late Jimmy Carter: “By the end of his life, we were reminded of the decent and humble nature of the man thanks to his acts, not his words. I really wish Biden would follow a similar path.
“Get out and work in the community. Do things that highlight the things his administration did to help people. Let the images of his human interactions and the stories they tell rebuild the brand. That’s way more powerful than playing pundit.”
More receptive to Biden’s re-emergence was party strategist Antjuan Seawright, who said: “I thought that was good for Joe Biden to just be honest and open about where things were, and where they are, and where he thinks they very well could be based on his own life experiences.
“If you know Joe Biden like I know Joe Biden and have spent time with him post the presidency like I’ve spent time with him, then you will know that Joe Biden is doing what is still in the best interests of the country.
“Joe Biden can still be helpful to the country, to the Congress, the Constitution, and the community.”
The former president is not the only ghost of 2024 still haunting Democrats, however.
Harris recently delivered her first major speech since November, accusing the president of marching the country into recession thanks to his tariff war. She then appeared at New York’s prestigious Met Gala.
Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has meanwhile given a swathe of interviews to everyone from The Washington Post to fellow governor turned podcaster Gavin Newsom, offering characteristically candid insights into what he believes went wrong.
None of this has helped the party rally around a new figurehead. Governors Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, JB Pritzker, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are just some of its members tipped as future presidential candidates and leaders, but have yet to grasp the torch.
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