I was today years old when I learned that former President Joe Biden became a hero by finally doing what his party spent weeks begging him to do.
Former first lady Dochtar Jill Biden now says her husband's decision to abandon his 2024 reelection campaign was "heroic." She says Joe "gave up everything" and hopes history remembers his sacrifice.
From the New York Post:
In an interview with The Jamie Kern Lima Show, the former first lady didn’t directly answer whether she was the “Lady McBeth” who pushed Joe Biden to spend four more years in the White House and instead laid the blame at the feet of their long-serving staff.
She confirmed that Biden, 83, originally intended to serve only one term as president but claimed, after Republicans had a poor showing in the 2022 midterms, Democratic Party members and his own advisers said he needed to run for re-election.
“After the midterms occurred and we won the midterms, and how you know the Democrats were doing so well, and everybody was coming to Joe and to me and saying, ‘He’s got to keep going,’” she said. “His advisors were saying that. People were saying that everywhere, out on the road. He has to run.”
Republicans underperformed in the 2022 midterm election, winning a scant majority in the House and failing to take the Senate. Biden, as president and leader of the party, was credited with a successful election.
...
Jill Biden said she hoped the “true story” of what happened in those years would come out in the historical record and said she wants her husband remembered as a “hero.”
“People forget that historical context because of all the negative overlay, they forget the true story- of what happened,” she said. “And I’m hoping that it’s revealed in history – and that becomes Joe’s legacy.”
She criticized “negative” people who disparaged the Biden family. “People just put whatever twist on it that they want, and mostly it’s negative.”
She also said Democratic advisers and party figures pushed him toward a second term after the party performed better than expected in the 2022 midterms.
There's truth in part of her defense; interviews with Biden's senior staff later showed that many advisers favored another run. They can own their share of that decision. The good doctor doesn't get to hand them her share of the decision because her own words are still sitting there in the public record.
Start with June 27, 2024. Americans watched Joe Biden freeze, stumble, lose his train of thought, get lost on campaign stages, shake hands with invisible people, and struggle through his debate with President Donald Trump.
Nearly two years later, Jill Biden admitted that she was "frightened" watching him. She said she thought, "Oh, my God, he's having a stroke," and that the performance "scared me to death."
From CBS News:
"I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never," Jill Biden told CBS News Sunday Morning's Rita Braver in an interview airing Sunday on CBS.
"I don't know what happened," she said. "As I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death."
Biden was running for a second term when he stumbled through the June 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump, prompting widespread calls for him to drop out of the race. He dropped out a month later, with 107 days to go until the general election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. He became the first sitting president to pull out of a presidential race since President Lyndon B. Johnson stepped aside in March of 1968.
A wife thinking her husband might be suffering a stroke is terrifying. I've had a stroke, and it was the single most terrifying moment in my life, more so for my daughters, who figured out what was happening, did everything right, and acted in my best interests.
Jill's public reaction afterward makes her current recollection awfully challenging to square with what happens next.
Minutes after helping Joe walk off the stage, Jill stood before supporters and told Joe, "You did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts."
Supporters chanted "four more years." The doting wife was so concerned over her frail husband's immediate health that the first thing they did after leaving the debate facility was to visit a Waffle House.The next day, she told donors they weren't going to let 90 minutes define his presidency.
If she genuinely believed she had just watched her 81-year-old husband possibly suffer a stroke on national television, "such a great job" was one heck of a postgame assessment.
Her support didn't fade after a weekend of reflection. On July 8, Jill told supporters Joe had made his decision to remain in the race and was "all in." Then added, "I am all in too."
With four more years, she promised, Joe would "continue to fight for you."
Joe Biden remained in the race until July 21, 24 days after the debate. By then, Democratic support was crumbling, and calls for him to leave had become impossible to ignore.
Jill now says she refused to influence his final decision, recalling Joe taking her hand that night and saying, "Jilly, I had no choice."
The former first lady said that her husband’s choice to run for another term — then to later end his campaign — were both entirely his own, despite rumors that she played a role. Recalling a conversation that took place at their Delaware beach house, Jill said that Joe specifically asked for her opinion.
“And I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘You make this decision yourself.’ I said, ‘Whatever decision is made, you have to be able to live with it the rest of your life.’ And I said, ‘I am not gonna weigh in for or against.’ And I kept true to that,” Jill shared.
After he ultimately decided to drop out, Jill said their conversation continued in their bedroom.
“I can remember, you know, going upstairs that night and getting in bed. And I said, ‘Joe, you know, how are you doing?’ And he grabbed my hand, and he said, ‘Jilly, I had no choice,’ ” she recalled.
As for a reason behind Joe’s decision, Jill said that her husband “saw the direction that things were going,” adding that he was aware of calls within the Democratic Party for him to retire.
“I thought what he did was heroic,” she said. “I mean, he gave up everything.”
She continued, saying, “It was his decision. I think people just put whatever twist on it that they want, and mostly it’s negative because it’s just human nature.”
No choice.
Somehow we've traveled from "four more years" and "I am all in too" to a heroic sacrifice made by a man who, in Jill's own telling, believed he had no choice.
Jill Biden is entitled to love her husband; she can defend his presidency, resent the people who forced him out, and hope history treats him kindly.
She can even keep wearing whatever portion of the White House drapery collection followed her home.
What she can't do is rewrite 2024 while the video is still online.
We watched the debate. We watched Jill praise him afterward. We hear "four more years." We heard "all in." We watched Joe stay put until Democrats finally made continued resistance politically untenable.
The Bidens may be finished with the White House, but the internet isn't finished with the Bidens.
And, unfortunately for Jill's latest version of history, it kept the receipts.
Want more columns that say what the political class would rather you forget? PJ Media VIP gives you exclusive commentary, member-only stories, and more. Use promo code FIGHT and get 60% off your subscription here.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member