Of course, we’re talking about former President Joe Biden, who once again was pulled out of Delaware for a cringeworthy appearance on The View this week. And seemingly leading this charge was “Dr.” Jill Biden, who appears to have real problems with staying out of the spotlight as a former first lady.
The appearance was a reminder of the frailty, forgetfulness, and utter dishonesty the 46th president routinely displayed during his forgetful four years in office. Example: When co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who plays the role of the lone “conservative” on the program despite being vehemently anti-President Donald Trump, asked Biden about his “alleged” cognitive decline and how he would respond to “critics” making such an allegation, Biden answered, “They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that, number one.”
And then the rambling began as Biden veered completely away from the original question:
“Number two, you know, think of what we left with. We left with a circumstance where we had an insurrection when I started, not since the Civil War. We had a circumstance where we were in a position that we — well, the pandemic, because of the incompetence of the last outfit, ended up over a million people dying, a million people dying,” Biden said, often looking down while speaking.
“And we’re also in a situation where we found ourselves unable to deal with a lot of just basic issues, which I won’t go into in the interest of time. And so we went to work, and we got it done and, you know, one of the things that … well, I’m …,” he trailed off.
Before Biden could finish this peculiar stream of consciousness, his wife stepped in to save the day, serving as a perfect example of perhaps how her husband’s presidency was run.
“Alyssa, one of the things I think is that the people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us,” she explained. “And they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day. I mean, he’d get up. He’d put in a full day, and then at night he would — I’d be in bed, you know, reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings. Working with staff. I mean, it was nonstop.”
Does anyone really believe the former president worked hard every single day? Or that his efforts were nonstop? After his disastrous debate performance in June 2024 against Trump, he admitted that he “almost fell asleep on stage” due to travel leading up to the debate. This is an odd argument, considering Biden hadn’t traveled for 13 days before the debate and was holed up at Camp David for a whole week preparing.
That prep was hardly vigorous. According to a July New York Times report, citing current and former officials, Biden didn’t begin his prep until 11:00 a.m. and was afforded daily afternoon naps. And it all didn’t matter: His run for a second term essentially ended that night in Atlanta after he appeared confused, slack-jawed, and was oftentimes incoherent in his answers. Almost no one has looked at him the same way since.
Biden also spent an estimated 40% of his term away from the White House, often at his homes in Delaware or at the estates of billionaire donors. As for working day and night, two reports by Axios and the Wall Street Journal in July 2024 revealed Biden allegedly worked part-time at best.
“From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Biden is dependably engaged — and many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours,” aides close to him told Axios.
Any work outside of that window, they said, made Biden prone to “have verbal miscues and become fatigued.”
Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the guy on national TV this week, the same guy who many Democrats blame for the current state of the party (no real power and approval in the 20s, according to multiple polls), should be sent flowers by the Republican National Committee.
“Elections are about the future. Every time Joe Biden emerges, we fight an old war,” explained Democratic strategist Anthony Coley, who served in the Biden administration. “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.”
The former president did make news from this T-ball session of an interview, albeit for all the wrong reasons. In what was either patent hubris or not living in reality, Biden insisted that he would have defeated Trump if he had stayed in the race. Forget the fact that he was trailing Trump in the polls before the debate when his brain turned to applesauce and that he was trailing badly afterward, even to the point that there were some projections of Trump winning 400 electoral votes.
As for why former Vice President Kamala Harris lost every swing state and the popular vote, Biden played the race and misogyny card from the bottom of the deck.
“They went the sexist route — this is a woman, this and that,” Biden said without citing any examples of the Trump campaign engaging in such rhetoric and without being challenged to do so. “I’ve never seen such a successful and consistent campaign undercutting the notion that a woman of color couldn’t win.”
The hosts, of course, all nodded in agreement.
Perhaps Harris lost because she was a profoundly horrible candidate with authenticity problems. Perhaps she flip-flopped on almost every major matter to voters, most notably on illegal immigration (calling Trump’s border wall “medieval” before supporting its expansion), advocating for Medicare for Call (she dropped that position in 2024), and calling for an end to fracking and all offshore drilling (as she did for years prior before supporting it as the nominee).
Perhaps Harris also lost because when she speaks without a teleprompter, she’s a human Chernobyl. Maybe she lost because she blew off the Al Smith Catholic Charity Dinner (the first since Mondale), never held one press conference, and decided that not doing podcasts such as Joe Rogan’s was a good idea.
But as Biden praised Harris as “first-rate,” he also said other good candidates were ready to run in 2028, undercutting his vice president with a nonendorsement. By saying he would have won if he stayed in the race, whether he was aware of it or not, he implied that Harris underperformed on what he would have produced at the ballot box.
As for the questions-not-asked-that-absolutely-should-have-been files, how did any of the six hosts at that table not offer up this one?
Sir, you insisted that you would never pardon your son Hunter, only to give him a blanket pardon on his way out the door. Was that the plan all along? And what about your mantra when it comes to Trump, that no one is above the law?
Mr. President, under Trump in his second term, border crossings are down 99% from when you were in office, all without one piece of legislation passed to achieve such a dramatic drop. What is Trump doing to be so effective compared to your record, based on the numbers?
Those questions would have prompted some interesting answers that likely would have involved lots of yelling.
In the end, the appearance, which was Biden’s first TV interview (if one could call it that) since taking office, cast him in an even poorer light. Relitigating a presidency roundly rejected by Americans while reminding voters how diminished he has become did him no favors if the plan was to reinvent his image. Even most Democrats would agree with that privately.
The Bidens are reportedly in the market for a book deal with an advance of up to $30 million. There’s no need for a “tell-all book” (which won’t tell us much), the book tour, and all the media that goes with it.
THE LEFT COMES FOR JOHN FETTERMAN
“Joe worked really hard! I think he was a great president!” declared the former first lady to cheers from the New York City studio audience on Thursday.
Check that: Not only should the former president go quietly on a permanent vacation, but he should also take his attention-starved spouse with him.
