Joe Biden leaving the DNC right after his farewell speech on Monday is “super telling” and shows he’s still “pissed” about being forced out of the race by top Democrat leadership, according to ex-CNN analyst Chris Cillizza.
Biden is set to deliver remarks on the first night of the DNC and then leave for vacation in California rather than attend the multi-day event, The Washington Post reported.
Cillizza said Biden is speaking on “the least desirable night” and remains bitter over his ouster by the Democrat Party last month.
“I know the storyline coming out of that July 21st announcement was that he did what was good for the country, he put country over party. Sort of. I think it’s really important to be transparent about what happened,” Cillizza said.
‘Biden Is Pissed’: Ex-CNN Analyst Says It’s ‘Super Telling’ How President Is Leaving DNC After His Speech pic.twitter.com/8bEEJJKpw3
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 19, 2024
“Joe Biden had a terrible debate; it was clear he was not going to be able to win the race…And then he dropped out. And he dropped out because he was under massive pressure to drop out.”
Cillizza expounded on Biden’s rationale for his anger given the media and Democrat base’s jubilant reaction to his dropping out in favor of Kamala Harris.
“The party has rapidly moved on. That’s not an easy thing for Joe Biden to deal with, right? All of a sudden, he was losing the race and now Kamala Harris is winning the race. Democratic base voters were totally unenthused about him and now they’re super enthused,” he said.
“If you are a human being, you understand why that would be difficult to grapple with. Joe Biden has been in politics since the early 1970s — 50 years. This is not how he wanted the last chapter of that book to go. He did not want the last chapter, one of the last big speeches he gives, to be on the first night of the Democratic National Convention and he is pissed because he feels as though he was pushed.”
“I do think it is telling that Joe Biden, after he gives the speech on Monday night, will leave Chicago, not participate in any more of the convention and go on a vacation in California … It’s hard to get further away, right? … There’s symbolism there, right? He was pushed out,” he continued.
“He has spent the last three weeks, or month, watching a person who he did not think was capable of winning this presidency surge on the back of excited Democrats who were very unexcited with Biden. That’s a hard pill to swallow; it just is and I think it’s okay to acknowledge it.”
“Joe Biden is pissed. He wanted his legacy to end differently. Doesn’t mean he won’t give a good speech tonight, doesn’t mean he will not be roundly applauded, which he will,” Cillizza added. “But I think it’s really important to note he’s a human being, and what has transpired over the last two months is really, really, really difficult.”
“And the fact that he’s shuttling out of the convention on Monday night after he gives the speech is super, super telling,” he concluded.
Biden took a jab at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a recent interview, suggesting she was partly responsible for forcing him out.
After his disastrous debate performance on July 27th, Biden for weeks stubbornly refused to acknowledge there was a problem amid mass backlash among his own party calling for him to drop out.
Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 race a month later.
In the days that followed, reports emerged from sources within the Biden campaign that former President Barack Obama, along with Pelosi, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened Biden with the 25th Amendment unless he stepped aside for a new candidate.