A former Biden campaign staffer blamed Joe Biden’s decision to seek a second term for President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, as Biden’s family and longtime allies work to defend his legacy and reshape how Democrats remember his presidency, according to a report from New York Magazine.
“I think it is very hard to ever get over the fact that he is responsible for the hellscape that we live in now,” the former campaign staffer told the magazine. “It is undeniable that his hubris cost us. He was an extremely impactful president who was successful in delivering tangible wins for Americans, but all of that is washed away.”
The report, published Friday, examined Biden’s June 5 appearance at the South Dakota Democratic Party’s McGovern Day Dinner in Sioux Falls. The 83-year-old former president spoke to roughly 1,200 Democrats gathered at a Best Western near the airport.
During the speech, Biden took aim at Trump and joked that he had to leave quickly afterward to attend his goddaughter’s wedding.
“So when I run off the stage it’s not because I’m afraid to hear the response,” Biden told the crowd.
According to New York Magazine, Biden spoke softly at times, raised his voice at others and occasionally appeared to lose his train of thought. Still, he received a warm response from the Democratic audience.
Biden also described Trump as “the most corrupt president in the history of the United States,” the report said.
The South Dakota appearance was part of what the magazine characterized as a more aggressive effort by Biden’s family and inner circle to keep his presidency from being remembered mainly for his 2024 defeat and his eventual exit from the race.
Rufus Gifford, who served as finance chair for Biden’s campaign and now chairs the board for Biden’s presidential library, said Democrats are slowly beginning to move beyond the bitterness of the 2024 election.
“Without a doubt, every day, there is less of a ’24 hangover,” Gifford told New York Magazine. “It’s not solved, but there’s less of a hangover and more of a nostalgia for normal times.”
Not everyone in the party sees Biden’s return to public life as helpful. David Axelrod, a longtime adviser to former President Barack Obama, warned that putting Biden back in the spotlight could revive the same concerns that led many Democrats to push for him to step aside.
“Putting him front and center will remind people why he was forced to leave the stage,” Axelrod told the magazine.
Tommy Vietor, a former Obama spokesman and co-host of “Pod Save America,” was also critical of the way Biden and those around him have described the 2024 fallout.
“Joe Biden is only a victim of what others did to him,” Vietor said. “He never views the country as the victim of what he did to us.”
Former first lady Jill Biden has also reentered the public conversation through her memoir, “View From the East Wing,” released in early June. During an event in Washington, D.C., she responded to former Biden spokesman Andrew Bates, who had questioned why Democrats needed to publicly reopen the painful debate over 2024.
“I want to say to Andrew, ‘Call me up and say it to my face,’” she said.
Hunter Biden also defended his father in the report, arguing that critics never fully grasped who Biden was or what motivated him.
“They never truly understood Joe Biden,” Hunter Biden said.
