The 26 must-see lines from Joe Biden's "Morning Joe" interview
Here we go.
As part of an aggressive effort to prove he’s not stepping down as the Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden called into MSNBC’s popular “Morning Joe” show on Monday.
How did he do? I’m with my former CNN colleague Brian Stelter when it comes to answering that question:
On the good side, the interview was live — meaning that we got raw, unfiltered, unedited Biden.
On the bad side, a phone interview is never ideal (and this goes for the many phone interviews Donald Trump did during his candidacy and presidency too).
I went through the full transcript of Biden’s interview line by line and pulled out the lines you need to see. They’re below.
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“Hey, Mika. I'm more than the presumptive, I'm going to be the Democratic nominee.”
Mika Brzezinski, one of the “MJ” hosts, introduced Biden as the presumptive nominee. Because that’s what he is — until the Democratic National Convention next month. So, yes, this is a little aggro from Biden. And away we go!
“The reason I've been out on the road so much, all over the country, and while Trump is riding around in his golf cart filling out his golf card before - golf card before he even hits the ball, anyway - hit - he hasn't been anywhere in ten days.”
Er, ok. So, I get that Biden wants to make the point that Trump is lying very low at the moment. But, honestly, Trump is, politically speaking, doing the exact right thing here. Trump wants the story to be all about Biden and the calls from within his own party for the president to step aside. Staying out of sight — and not saying much — is the best way to do that.
“And I've gone all over the country for several reasons. One, to make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee. And all the data, all the data shows that the average Democrat out there who voted, 14 million of them that voted for me, still want to be the nominee, number one.”
We can absolutely debate whether Democrats, writ large, think Biden should still be the nominee. But, the idea that because Biden has done a few rallies where people have cheered amounts to proof of the party wanting him doesn’t make sense. Also, I am not sure what “data” he is referring to here. The vast majority of polling I have seen shows Biden losing ground against Trump post-debate. And then there’s this:
“Number two, the idea that Donald Trump is - has gained in any substantial way has his - his argument as to why he should be president is anywhere convincing than it was two weeks or three weeks ago. It's just not there. And we're just getting - we're just starting to focus on Trump.”
The first part of this answer doesn’t make a ton any of sense. The second half, I think, makes the point that lots of Democrats who want Biden to drop out are making: That the conversation is ALL about whether Biden is up to the job. Which means the focus isn’t on — and won’t be on — prosecuting the case against Donald Trump.
“You know, just on down the line. And so I'm not getting any of what I was told. I wanted to make sure I was right, that the average voter out there still wanted Joe Biden. And I'm confident they do.”
Again, I am SURE that there are lots of Democrats who still support Biden! The question is whether a) he can beat Trump given his debate performance and questions about his age and competence and b) whether — given his age and competence issues — he can be president for four more years.
“I haven't read any reporting they did today. But the fact is that, you know, I think they'd have to acknowledge, we had large crowds, enthusiastic crowds.”
This is positively Trumpian! Biden is arguing that because he has big crowds that he is up to be the nominee and spend four more years as president. Crowd size have zero to do with that.
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