Biden suggests he would retire if Trump wasn’t running: Dems 'cannot let him win'
During a recent event with donors in Boston, Massachusetts, President Joe Biden hinted that he could've been making an exit from a career in public service were it not for former President Trump's efforts to win back control of the White House.
"If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running," Biden said, according to CNN host Kaitlan Collins. Biden reportedly added that Democrats "cannot let [Trump] win."
Biden made the comments while soliciting financial support from well-heeled Democratic donors to bolster his war chest ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Following the conclusion of the third quarter fundraising period, CNBC reported that the Biden campaign reportedly raised more than $70 million since July 1, and has over $90 million on hand. Trump, for his part, had raised more than $45 million in that same time period, and had roughly $37.5 million in cash on hand. While this is less than Biden's haul, it's still well above what the remainder of the Republican presidential primary field had raised as of the end of the third quarter.
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While speaking to donors, Biden also commented on the recent end of the ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, blaming Hamas' "refusal to release the remaining young women" for Israel resuming its assault on Gaza.
"Everyone still being held hostage by Hamas need to be returned to their families immediately," Biden said. "We're not going to stop."
Biden's remarks came on the same day that David Frum — a former speechwriter in George W. Bush's White House — appeared on CNN to warn about Trump's plans to upend the rule of law should he be elected to another term. Frum told host John Berman that because the 45th president of the United States may very well be a convicted criminal by the time Election Day 2024 approaches, he would have to "rip apart the legal system of the United States... for self-preservation." Frum added that in a second term, Trump would fill his administration with "creeps and weirdos" who "are quite clear that they want to help [Trump] to wreck the democratic structure of the United States."
In a hypothetical head-to-head general election matchup, most polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics currently show Trump with a slight lead over Biden, though his leads are typically within the margin of error.
