Former President Joe Biden is desperately attempting to salvage his reputation which took a vicious and well-deserved beating during his only term in the White House, by hiring a veteran campaign and communications strategist to help make repairs to his legacy, despite the many voices from the Democratic Party who want him to call it a day and ride off into the sunset.
Given all of the horrible, vile policies this man and his administration put in place during his time in office, all of the scandals, and evidence of taking money for political favors, I’d say fixing his reputation is impossible.
Radical leftists in the Democratic Party are most certainly not going to get what they want from Biden, as the step to hire someone to rehabilitate him in the eyes of the public is a sign he’s planning to engage with the country. He’s hired Chris Meagher, a former deputy press secretary for Biden who also served as a spokesperson for the Defense Department.
Meagher’s job is to help Biden transition past the first 100 days of the new administration, according to several individuals who are close to the hire and were given anonymity so they could speak freely.
“Meagher, who has worked for former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, played an instrumental role in booking Biden’s appearance on The View on Thursday, the people said, his first live interview since President Donald Trump’s inauguration,” Politico reported.
It is a critical time for Biden, who has come under heavy criticism from Democrats for staying in the presidential race as long as he did last year.
At the same time, Biden finds himself buffeted by both sides: The Trump administration is making plans to release the audio of Biden’s interview with Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents and raised questions about his mental acuity, POLITICO reported on Wednesday. The recordings — the release of which remains in flux — have long been sought by Trump’s Republican allies to tarnish him. While the transcripts were released long ago, Biden’s allies fear the audio could be used by Republicans in an attempt to further damage his legacy — one of several reasons for bringing on Meagher.
Former special assistant and deputy press secretary to Biden, Kelly Scully, has been the former president’s only spokesperson since he left the White House. However, her time working for the federal government is quickly wrapping up.
The timing of Biden’s appearance on The View is notable because it comes after the 100-day mark, a period in which former presidents have typically avoided criticizing their predecessors. Now Biden can take on Trump more directly, the people said. It is also a venue he has often retreated to at fraught moments dating back to 2007, including his first interview after launching his 2020 presidential run and last September as the first sitting president to do so, during which he called Trump a “loser.”
The interview provides Biden with an opportunity to address his critics and offer a rebuttal to their claims that he is in decline. Not sure how he can possibly hope to be convincing given the mountain of evidence that exists to the contrary, but I guess he’ll give it the old college try.
“If he’s doing these interviews and he’s having a lot of the same verbal gaffes, there should be a conversation if continuing to do interviews helps or hurts him,” explained Caitlin Legacki, a Democratic consultant. “But if Biden goes and does the interviews, we see a rested and relaxed and thoughtful Biden, that could play very well.”
Biden has been attempting to ease back onto the national stage, having given a few speeches already this spring. On Wednesday, an interview he did with the BBC was release where he gave his analysis of Trump’s current administration, referring to Trump’s idea of Ukraine surrendering part of its territory to Russia as part of a peace deal with the invading country a “modern-day appeasement” and the potential for a NATO alliance fracture a “grave concern.”
Democrats are still disenchanted with Biden and the analysis of the 2024 election following his loss to Trump.
“There are a lot of young and dynamic leaders in the Democratic Party who are focused on the path forward, and it’s better we focus on them, instead of an old man trying to convince himself and America he isn’t responsible for Donald Trump’s reelection,” explained one Democratic operative, granted anonymity to talk about the issue candidly.
Biden appears unlikely to sit on the sidelines. The hiring of an outside communications aide typically comes following a sixth-month period when former presidents are afforded a taxpayer-funded spokesperson bound by the constraints of the Hatch Act, which prevents political activity. Bringing on Meagher earlier — he can retain Scully through July 20 — may allow Biden to more forcefully engage in the public eye.
Guess this means we’re stuck hearing this dude mumble and soil himself on television until he officially kicks the bucket.
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