President Joe Biden gave a hesitant reply when asked about him stepping down from the top of the Democratic ticket on The View.
Co-host Alyssa Farah asked Biden what the nature of his relationship was with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and what connection the California congresswoman had with his decision to not seek reelection. “Did you feel that your hand was forced and what is your relationship with Speaker Pelosi now?” Farah asked. Farah served as the White House communications director during the Trump administration, she has since become a vocal critic of the former president.
Biden insisted that Pelosi hadn’t forced him to step down from the top of the ticket and that anyone who suggests as such is putting forth a revisionist telling of the events that led Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic Nominee.
Biden said that he was at peace with his decision while still insisting that he could have won the race saying “I was confident I would beat Trump. He’s a loser.” (
AFP via Getty Images)
“My relationship is fine,” Biden said. I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance to my running again, I didn’t sense that. Although the polling—they said Biden’s polling was different. The fact of the matter is, my polling was about where, you know, about always within the range of beating the guy.”
Biden said that he was at peace with his decision while still insisting that he could have won the race saying “I was confident I would beat Trump. He’s a loser.”
Calls for the president to step aside began gaining support within the party after Biden’s disastrous CNN debate performance against former President Trump on June 27, which saw the president continually stumble over his words and appear to lose his train of thought at times. Biden reiterated that pressure from within the party was not the reason he stepped down.
“There were some folks who would to see me step aside so they have a chance to move on. I get that. That’s human nature. But that wasn’t the reason I stepped down.”
He spoke about working with Kamala on her campaign and couldn’t stop singing her praises. (
AFP via Getty Images)
Biden also poked fun at his age during his appearance. Biden, 81, when he leaves office will be the oldest man to ever serve as president. The previous record holder was Ronald Reagan who was 77 years old when he left office in 1989.
“I know I only look 40, but I’m 180 years old,” he joked. “I’ve been around forever, but what happened was we had so much success getting things done that people thought we couldn’t get done, I found myself having used more time than I would have ordinarily to pass that torch.”
He spoke about working with Harris on her campaign and couldn’t stop singing her praises. “She is bright, she is tough, she’s honorable. And the thing I like about her and the thing we have in common is we have an optimistic view of the future here. There isn’t anything we can’t do there really isn’t.”
On Tuesday, Biden made his final speech at the United Nations as president. He told the leaders of the world that nations needed to come together amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
