It’s been a tough week for President Joe Biden. After a New York Times-Siena College poll showed him losing to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump in five of six critical battleground states, former Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod suggested it was time for Biden to step aside. Additional challengers have entered the 2024 election discussion with Green Party hopeful and 2016 Hillary Clinton spoiler Jill Stein throwing her hat in the ring. His White House has been trying to do clean up on his shaky messaging regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
And then there was the latest perceived gaffe on the national stage. During a Veterans Day wreath laying ceremony, President Biden appeared unsure of where to go or what to do until a service member intervened.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by the hosts of Ruthless – Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook – to discuss Biden’s confusion and why there is growing consensus on the left that he can’t run a ‘normal’ campaign.
Wreath Laying Goes Awry
During the annual Veterans Day memorial at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday, Biden was on hand to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. Video shows the president appearing to freeze in the middle of the solemn ceremony. “You guys talked about how he is like the Roomba bumping into the walls and the legs of the chairs, and we saw that… [at] the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington the other day,” Megyn joked. “Every president does it… [and] he couldn’t even do that.”
Biden was handed a wreath by a U.S. Army service member that he then placed on a stand in front of the tomb. That’s when things went awry. As he turned away from the wreath, he seemed to be confused about what he was supposed to do next.
The president hesitated and then waited for the service member to give him a cue. The soldier eventually stretched out his arm and directed Biden to get back in line with Vice President Kamala Harris and military representatives. “All I can think of is My Cousin Vinny,” Megyn quipped. “‘Over here, dear.’”
Politico Pounces
To add insult to injury, Politico senior political columnist and politics bureau chief Jonathan Martin published a column on Monday that says Biden lacks “the capacity” to run again. While the title – “Here’s How Biden Can Turn It Around” – is somewhat optimistic, the message is clear:
“…Biden is indeed in peril. The New York Times battleground survey was no outlier, as made clear by a new poll from Bloomberg-Morning Consult that reflected the same cold fact: the president begins his re-election as the underdog… 2024 will be an extraordinary election, and it demands extraordinary measures.
That’s in part for reasons Biden refuses to accept: his capacity to do the job. The oldest president in history when he first took the oath, Biden will not be able to govern and campaign in the manner of previous incumbents. He simply does not have the capacity to do it, and his staff doesn’t trust him to even try, as they make clear by blocking him from the press. Biden’s bid will give new meaning to a Rose Garden campaign, and it requires accommodation to that unavoidable fact of life…”
– Jonathan Martin, Politico
So, how does Biden fix this? Martin claims he “spoke with dozens of Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans” about what the president can do “on personnel, presentation, and strategy to improve his prospects.” Megyn summarized their suggestions:
“Number one, Get Liz Cheney… Number two, Rahm Emanuel… needs to come back [from Japan] and chair the reelection. As for the Mideast, you have to bring in Bill and Hillary Clinton because Biden cannot handle it all,” she explained. “The last two I actually agree with: Heave Bidenomics into the dumpster. Correct. And talk about abortion every day. Those two things will help.”
She wasn’t convinced the “Liz Cheney Rescue Plan” has legs, and Holmes agreed. While he noted that every candidate for office has highs and lows – including former President Barack Obama at this point in the 2012 election – their ability to recover is what matters. “With Barack Obama, you knew you could barnstorm the country and he was a pretty compelling speaker and he could make the case to the American people that he deserved reelection,” he shared. “With Joe Biden, what Democrats are doing is looking at this and being like, ‘Well, whatever hole he’s dug for himself, there’s no chance that he can dig himself back out of it.’”
That limits the Democrat Party’s strategy for 2024. “I think the only thing keeping Democrats hopeful… is Donald Trump being up by 40 points in the Republican primary,” Duncan concluded. “Him being there as the 800-pound gorilla in the room is the only thing keeping Biden in this race because Democrats think they still have a shot.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ruthless by tuning in to episode 669 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.