President Biden said that he spent too much time on policy and not enough time on politics while reflecting on his presidency in his final interview just days away from leaving office.
Biden sat down with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday after he gave his farewell address to the nation the night before.
O’Donnell asked about Biden saying last month that it was stupid of him to not sign the COVID-19 stimulus checks that went out early in his administration, after President-elect Trump put his name on checks during his first term. He asked Biden if it crossed his mind to sign his name.
“It did cross my mind. But the mistake we made was, I think I made, was not getting our allies to acknowledge that the Democrats did this,” he said.
“Ironically, I almost spent too much time on the policy, not enough time on the politics,” Biden added. “Because, I mean… you have some senators in Congress, Democratic senators in Congress saying, ‘Well, you know, Joe Biden did this, and this is done by so and so and so and so and this is the new, you know, built by the Democratic Party kind of thing.’”
The president said that while people should know who is responsible for assistance, like the COVID-19 stimulus checks, he considers boasting to be rude.
“Let people know who was responsible for this happening. But it just seems, I know it sounds so stupid to say it, almost bad taste,” Biden told MSNBC.
Biden said in a December speech at the Brookings Institution that he learned something from Trump, which was that he signed checks for people and it was “stupid” that he didn’t.
In the MSNBC interview, Biden was also asked about his farewell address, which struck a dark tone as the president warned against an oligarchy forming in the U.S. and he called for a constitutional amendment to ensure presidents would not be immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office.
Biden told O’Donnell that there wasn’t a release of a burden when he finished his remarks Wednesday night, but said there was a sense of “serious concern.”
“I really am concerned about how fragile democracy is. That sounds corny. But I mean, I really, really am concerned, because you’ve heard me say it 100 times, I really think we’re in an inflection point in history here,” Biden said. “There’s a presidency that says you have really limited powers. I mean, you’re the top dog, but you can’t dictate everything. And I don’t know, they seem to just be chipping away at all those elements.”
The president is set to leave office on Monday when Trump is sworn in. Biden opted to run for reelection but dropped his bid in July among concerns over his age and stamina, endorsing Vice President Harris, who lost to Trump in November.
