Earlier this week, while discussing the death of former President Jimmy Carter, President Joe Biden took a subtle verbal jab at President-elect Donald Trump.
Biden, speaking to reporters from his latest vacation spot on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, took a baited question from an establishment media correspondent as another chance to bash his predecessor and now successor.
“[What can] President Trump take from President Carter?” the reporter asked at the end of Biden’s prepared remarks.
“Decency, decency, decency,” Biden, who is himself at the center of reports that he and his son, Hunter Biden, used political influence to enrich themselves and other members of their family, responded.
“Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking by someone who needed something and just keep walking?” Biden added. “Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way they look or the way they talk? I can’t.”
The outgoing president has also been criticized for demonizing the tens of millions of ‘MAGA’ supporters throughout his four-year term, often comparing them to some of the worst tyrants and political movements in history.
It could be that Biden is merely expressing some anger over Trump’s victory — and the 46th president’s decision to end his reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance in June because he believes he “could have defeated” Trump despite horrible polling numbers, according to a Sunday report.
The Washington Post, allegedly quoting several people close to Biden, also reported that they said the outgoing president had other regrets about his four years in office.
“Biden and some of his aides still believe he should have stayed in the race, despite the rocky debate performance and low poll numbers that prompted Democrats to pressure him to drop out,” the paper reported.
“Biden and these aides have told people in recent days that he could have defeated Trump, according to people familiar with their comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Aides say the president has been careful not to place blame on Harris or her campaign,” the Post added.
The outlet also said that Biden regrets choosing Merrick Garland as his attorney general, accusing him of slow-walking the two prosecutions against Trump while allowing his son, Hunter Biden, to be charged on federal gun and tax charges. Biden reportedly chose Garland as a consensus pick based on advice from his aides, the Post said.
The president pardoned his son on Dec. 1 in a highly suspect and unusual action dating back 11 years to Jan. 1, 2014 — when then-Vice President Joe Biden was placed in charge of dealing with Ukraine as it entered a tumultuous period while Hunter began a very lucrative stint as a board member for a Ukrainian energy giant.
The two federal cases against Trump have unraveled since last month’s election, with additional cases in New York and Georgia collapsing following his election to a second term.
Sources close to President Biden told the Washington Post that he holds no regrets about participating in the June debate against Trump, despite the subsequent pressure from within his own party that ultimately led to his decision to withdraw from the race.
He does, however, reportedly regret his dazed and confused performance, the Post noted:
Biden acknowledged that he had “screwed up” in his June 27 debate against Trump, as he struggled to put together sentences and defend his policies as his rival held forth with a series of falsehoods and called him a criminal. (He does not regret participating in the debate — just his performance that night).
Trump ultimately defeated Harris by a margin of 2.2 million votes.