It’s been less than two weeks since he ended his re-election campaign, and President Joe Biden is apparently trying to figure out his new place in the world and his new plan for the future.
As of mid-July, Biden was planning to plow ahead and try to take down GOP nominee Donald Trump at the polls in November to capture another four years in the White House. But, after facing intense pressure from high-ranking Democrats to drop out, he finally decided to step aside from the race.
On Monday, Biden made his first public appearance since he made that announcement. The crowd that attended the event in Austin, Texas, gave him a raucous applause, according to ABC News, but it was in recognition of, and thanks for, what he’s done for U.S. politics.
A lot of those people who were clapping for him were likely doing so as a thanks for dropping out, giving hope to the Democratic Party that their new presumptive nominee — Vice President Kamala Harris — might fare better against Trump than Biden was projected to.
According to an ABC News report, Biden is still “smarting over those who orchestrated the abrupt end of his 50-year political career and processing a mixture of emotions — bitterness and regret among them, but also relief at not having to run a grueling race against Republican Donald Trump.”
Biden also now doesn’t have to face the possibility of losing to Trump — which was appearing increasingly likely, given his mental failures and horrific performance at the first presidential debate — and what that might have done for his political legacy.
The ABC News report pointed out that, while Biden is taking some pride in the fact that Harris’ rise and quick support from the Democratic Party started when he fully endorsed her for the role, he’s also struggling to make complete sense of the fact that he’ll soon be out of politics.
It’s not how he had envisioned his political career ending, after all. He likely thought he’d ride off into the sunset four years from now, after serving a second term in the White House and, thus, being prevented by the Constitution from running for a third term.
Biden probably imagined that happening and being his “retirement party” as he left politics.
Instead, his political career will come to an end four years earlier than he had hopes — and it’s also coming to an end quickly. Just a few weeks ago, he had those plans of serving four more years. Now, he won’t be — thanks to, in his mind, the people who aggressively convinced him to step aside.
From his point of view, maybe this will be a better exit than losing to Trump would have been. At least now, if Trump wins and “ruins the country,” as Biden has claimed would happen, he won’t have to take responsibility for it — since it’ll be Harris, and not him, who would have lost to the Republican.
