Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. For 1333 days, President Joe Biden was the only one, he repeatedly insisted, who could possibly defeat former president Donald Trump again. He shrugged off his promise to be a bridge to a new generation.
He told anyone who would listen that he was the best choice for Democrats even as inflation soared and his approval rating plunged. His faith in himself remained unshaken by the increasingly obvious impact of his age, which left him unable to make an effective case against Trump. On Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), Biden watched from the White House residence as voters rejected Vice President Kamala Harris and ushered Trump back into power for another four years.
Biden, who repeatedly warned about the danger that Trump poses, is left with the reality that his predecessor is now his successor, chosen with what is likely to be a majority of the popular vote. Joe Biden’s legacy will now come into question following Kamala Harris’ crushing defeat. Credit: Marija Ercegovac Among his closest allies, Biden will be remembered as the person who vanquished Trump in 2020 and ended his own reelection campaign for the good of the country.
But many Democrats are already casting him in a much different, and deeply unflattering, light: as a one-term president who set his party on a path to failure in 2024. “He was supposed to be the bridge, a transition bridge for the next generation of Democrats,” said .