Biden still thinks he would have beaten Trump

In an interview with USA Today, Joe Biden, in his final hours in the White House, emphatically reaffirms that he would have been able to beat Trump and that he considered himself best placed to do so.

President Biden insisted in a new interview out today that he could have beaten Trump in the 2024 election, even as he admitted he was unsure that he had the stamina for another term.

— Axios (@axios.com) 2025-01-08T13:49:22.361Z

When a USA Today reporter asked Joe Biden if he thought he could have won the election in November, he replied that he found it presumptuous to say so, but that he thought so, based on the polls he had before he withdrew from the race, despite the enormous pressure he was under at the time.

Asked by the reporter about his ability to serve the country for a second four-year term, Joe Biden candidly replied that he wasn’t sure.

He explained that when Trump ran for re-election, he genuinely thought he was in the best position to beat him, but said he had never considered being president at 85 or 86.

Biden also mentioned raising the idea of passing the baton, without going into detail, adding that it was impossible to predict whether he could have been president for another term.

“So far, so good,” he asserted, before concluding:

“But who knows what I’ll be like at 86?”

Despite his low popularity rating and the many questions about his physical and mental health, Biden remains confident in his abilities.

He does, however, seem to feel some regret at having given way to his vice-president, who suffered a crushing defeat to Trump in the election.