The line Joe Biden used to put into nearly every big speech — “I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future” — is a long way from what he says in private now.The line Joe Biden used to put into nearly every big speech — “I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future” — is a long way from what he says in private now.

These days, multiple people who’ve spoken to him over the last year say, Biden often punctuates conversations with: “You think we can actually come back from this?”

The 83-year-old Biden continues to feel out a post-presidency that may prove to be one of the shortest in history and is already one of the most complicated.

There are days when Biden is heartbroken, indignant or in disbelief about what is happening as President Donald Trump — the man he defeated in 2020 — returned and moved not just to tear down his accomplishments, but to dig in with petty insults like the autopen photograph he put in Biden’s spot in the “Presidential Walk of Fame” installed at the White House.

  • GalacticSushi@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    123·
    15 hours ago

    Two things can be true.

    People shouldn’t have abstained from voting to protest the DNC’s position on a genocide that is still happening under Trump (a guy who wants to turn Gaza into a resort town once the Palestinians have been exterminated) alongside everything else he’s doing domestically as well as the trade and diplomatic clusterfucks. They let perfection be the enemy of progress and that was clearly a mistake.

    But Biden also should have released the Epstein files, he should’ve stepped down as a one term president and allowed a primary to decide the next candidate, the DNC and Biden/Harris campaigns should’ve ran much stronger campaigns rather than assume “we’re not Trump” would do enough of the work for them. They did nothing to rally the base and motivate people to go vote.

    There’s plenty of blame to go around. It’s no one group or individuals fault.