Disgruntled Joe Biden disappointed as Kamala Harris tries to distance from his record, report claims
- Biden feels dwindling influence after he abandoned his reelection campaign
President Joe Biden is disappointed at how quickly his influence is dwindling as Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to move beyond him, according to an NBC News report.
Biden has noticed that Harris is not referring to him very often in her campaign speeches, the report notes, citing six people familiar with his comments.
He was also saddened when Harris specifically distanced herself from him, insisting in the presidential debate that she was ‘clearly’ not Joe Biden and offering a ‘new generation of leadership.’
A Harris campaign official tried to ward off rumors of an upset Biden by noting that the president has repeatedly told Harris to do whatever she needs to do to win.
Harris and Biden also had lunch together on Thursday for the first time in a while, an official confirmed, as they both went to the White House for a meeting with Ukrainian president Voldymyr Zelensky.
U.S. President Joe Biden is increasingly disappointed as his influence dwindles a new report claims
Harris met separately with Zelensky at the White House, however, and delivered separate remarks from the president.
The White House dismissed the report as ‘uninformed claims’ that were ‘the polar opposite of the truth.’
In the meantime, sources tell NBC News, Biden appears saddened by his vanishing profile on the national stage and ‘left behind.’
Harris is moving on, referring to the president less on the campaign trail.
‘She has to become her own person,’ a Harris campaign official told NBC News. ‘She needs to do that to win.’
US President Joe Biden pauses as speaks from the Oval Office
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris campaigns without Joe Biden in Nevada
Biden’s appearance on ABC’s ‘The View’ last week to with the adoring hosts appeared to a bit of therapy for the president as they praised his political legacy.
But he also remained adamant that he could have beat former President Donald Trump, despite the Democratic party leadership pushing him out of the race.
‘I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance to my running again,’ Biden said during the interview. ‘The fact of the matter is my polling was always in range of beating this guy.’
The growing uneasiness between the two candidates was only emphasized in a Saturday Night Live sketch where a doddering Biden character was pushed aside by the Harris character before he could finish speaking.
If Harris wins in November, Biden’s legacy will be vindicated for choosing Harris in the first place as his vice president and stepping aside at the right moment. But if Trump emerges victorious, it is possible Biden will harbor grudges against the leaders of the Democratic Party for the rest of his life.