One of the things that made some of the Democrats boiling mad in Joe Biden's interview with George Stephanopoulos was this response he gave to the question about his bad poll numbers, that he'd never seen anyone with 36 percent approval win, and how he would feel if former President Donald Trump beat him in the election.
Final exchange of the #BidenInterview....
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 6, 2024
Stephanopoulos: "Mr. President, I've never seen a president of 36% approval get re-elected."
Biden: "Well, I don't believe that's my approval rate. That's not what our polls show."
Stephanopoulos: "And if you stay in and Trump is… pic.twitter.com/DoKjXlk3GS
Biden just refused delivery on the poll numbers.
"And if you stay in and Trump is elected and everything you're warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?" George asked.
Biden said, "I'll feel, as long as I gave it my all, and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that's what this is about." Then he said he thought he was the guy for the job.
And who's going to be able to hold NATO together like me? Who's going to be able to be in a position where I'm able to keep the Pacific Basin in a position where -- which at least checkmating China now? Who's going to -- who's going to do that? Who has that reach? Who has -- who knows all these -- we're going to have -- I guess a good way to judge me is you're going to have now the NATO conference in the United States next week. Come listen. See what they say."
It was all about him. And if he really thought Trump was somehow a threat to democracy, that wouldn't be how he should/would respond, many on the left thought. How could he just be satisfied that he did his "goodest" if "Hitler" had just won power? But if he isn't a threat, then why would anyone vote for Joe Biden, since that fear is pretty much all he has to whip up people against Trump?
Some other Democrats are now confessing an important truth, now that they face the reality that Biden is likely to lose and Trump may likely win. NY Times columnist Ezra Klein went on "The Bulwark"' podcast and said that they are privately telling him that Trump isn't the existential threat to democracy that some claim.
Warning for graphic language:
Be warned: Some Democrats are saying off the record that they would be fine with Trump winning, and just going back to being part of the resistance again. @ezraklein joins @Timodc on today's Bulwark Pod: https://t.co/o4L2L80xCO pic.twitter.com/FYbtQY0Ug7
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) July 10, 2024
Here's the GALLING exchange with @ezraklein about his conversations with Top Democrats who are resigned to Trump. https://t.co/wgAQ0eLNVZ pic.twitter.com/fy0pxkKann
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) July 10, 2024
"l've had top Democrats say to me basically something like, 'I don't know why all these Democrats who think Donald Trump is an existential threat to democracy are acting the way they are. But the reason I'm acting the way I am is because I don't think that," Klein revealed. That flipped out Tim Miller.
But translation? Those Democrats know claiming Trump was a "threat to democracy" was just something Democrats said, they didn't really believe it. And they can live with Trump winning.
It's all hilarious, and instructive, and refreshing in a way. Everyone in the media and political establishment is just in total F It mode currently, which is fun and different. But it doesn't exactly inspire confidence since it exposes the whole system was a facade before. 5/
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) July 10, 2024
Because they never believed their apocalyptic talk about Trump being an existential threat to democracy. They said it to motivate their base and give the media an excuse to drop a pretense of neutrality. https://t.co/qeuIgXuJ53
— Tim Carney (@TPCarney) July 11, 2024
READ MORE:
Biden Botches Quote at NATO Summit, What He Says Instead Is a Revelatory Freudian Slip
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