It’s been nearly a full month since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and declared his support for Vice President Kamala Harris, who swiftly became the Democratic Party’s presumptive — and now official — nominee.
But former President Donald Trump can’t stop talking about his erstwhile opponent.
Writing on social media and speaking in front of cameras around the country, Trump has continually brought up theories about what Biden is thinking, feeling and potentially plotting — all without evidence.
Trump’s preoccupation with Biden comes as Harris makes gains in the polls, turning what was a contest that favored Trump into a dead-even heat.
His most bizarre claim over the last several weeks has been the idea that Biden is going to swoop in at the eleventh hour of the Democratic National Convention and take back the presidential nomination.
“What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the history of the U.S., whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla, Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Shifty Adam Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and others on the Lunatic Left, CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE,” Trump wrote last week on Truth Social.
He also speculated that Biden “feels that he made a historically tragic mistake by handing over the U.S. Presidency.”
The claim amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking.
Biden is slated to give a speech on Monday, the first night of the Democratic National Convention, to pass the baton to a new, younger generation of leadership: Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
No serious challenge to Harris ever materialized, but Democratic delegates were, of course, not forced to vote for her. Of the nearly 4,700 party delegates, 99% ended up supporting Harris. The usual process of holding state primaries was not possible due to the late date at which Biden dropped out, after it became clear that his odds of beating Trump were slipping.
Along with his campaign staffers, Trump has now taken to painting Biden’s willful decision as a “coup” and claiming the Democratic Party acted disrespectfully toward Biden.
“They are throwing him out on the Monday Night Stage, known as Death Valley,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.
“[Biden] now HATES Obama and Crazy Nancy more than he hates me! He is an angry man, as he should be. They stole the Presidency from him — ‘It was a Coup!’”
He claimed Harris’ rise was “unconstitutional” during the chaotic press conference he gave last week and touched on the supposed “coup” during his interview with billionaire Elon Musk on Monday. Trump has also dropped the term in his campaign speeches.
A Politico report this week suggested Biden does harbor lingering frustrations with top Democratic leaders like former President Barack Obama and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for the way in which they handled the controversy over Biden’s decision.
Publicly, though, Biden has said that he made the right call; it was his “obligation to the country.”
