Regretful Joe Biden to Seek Solace from the Pope
Joe Biden is traveling to Italy next month to meet with Pope Francis and other top Italian officials in what's expected to be the last international trip of his one-term presidency. The New York Times reports that Biden, who failed to keep demagogue Donald Trump from returning to power, wants the Pope to help him work through some of his regrets.
"The visit, White House officials said as they issued a readout on Mr. Biden’s call with the pope last week, is officially to discuss world peace," per the Times. "But according to a person familiar with his plans for the trip, Mr. Biden is also going to the Holy See to seek solace and 'relief' as he exits the world stage." The outlet noted that Biden is "described by his allies as in a pensive, sometimes angry, mood as the end of his term approaches."
Biden has shared some of his regrets publicly, like when he said in a speech that it was stupid not to put his name on pandemic stimulus checks in 2021 like his predecessor did in 2020.
But then comes this infuriating tidbit from the Times' reporting:
Perhaps more revealing about Mr. Biden’s list of regrets are the items that do not appear on it. The president does not regret debating Mr. Trump in June, an appearance that created a slow bleed in his support among Democrats and ended with his ouster as the party’s presidential nominee. Mr. Biden has privately told allies that he only regrets not changing the timing because he had a cold, and believes he would have performed better if he had been in better health.
Let's unpack this. Biden's single misgiving about the June debate is that he was sick when it happened—not that he was the Democratic candidate facing off against Trump.
Biden doesn't regret running for re-election after pledging in 2020 to be a "bridge" to a new generation of leaders even though, per the Wall Street Journal, he was struggling to do the job from the early days of his presidency! There was no real Democratic primary and after he performed disastrously at the debate, he took more than three weeks to drop out, giving Vice President Kamala Harris a little over 100 days to mount a successful campaign. He reportedly had to be talked down from boasting about the economy in ways that would sabotage Harris' message of how more needed to be done. He remained bitter about being "pushed out" and extremely focused on his own legacy, while ignoring that a Trump win would erase most of it. Plus, there's the matter of him enabling the Israeli government to kill tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza.
The man fucked us all with his pride and his desire to retain power, and likely won't live to see the worst of it. I could honestly scream. But have a nice confession with the Pope or whatever.
Trump-related barf:
- Trump said in a Christmas Eve post on Truth Social that he would “vigorously pursue” the federal death penalty, then on Christmas Day he said that the 37 people whose death sentences Biden commuted to can "GO TO HELL." Yes, in all caps. [Associated Press/The Hill]
- The addled man is also fantasizing about the U.S. controlling Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. [NBC News]
- The Laura Loomer sect of MAGA is turning on Trump advisors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for hiring immigrants on H-1B visas to work as engineers. [CNN]
- Trump is still touchy about Musk's prominence, saying in a Sunday speech that he hadn't "ceded the presidency" to the Tesla CEO and that Musk can't be president because he wasn't born in the U.S. Perhaps Trump was processing out loud how a foreign billionaire could wield money and influence to control the country. [NBC News]
Non-Trump barf:
- Retiring Rep. Kay Granger (R) hasn't taken a vote since July because she's been experiencing "dementia issues," but she did not resign. [CNN]
- A Biden administration agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, asked an organization that tracks food crises to retract a report warning of imminent famine in North Gaza. [Associated Press]
- Biden said he objected to Congress amending the defense bill to strip coverage of gender-affirming care for trans children in military families, then signed the bill anyway rather than vetoing it. [Associated Press]
- Since Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) announced in March that she would retire, she spent more than $100,000 in campaign funds on what appear to be personal travel expenses for trips to Rome, Milan, and French wine country. [The Intercept]
- Marianne Williamson is running for DNC chair. [CBS]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!