Tipsheet

Joe Biden Now Admits There's an 'If' on Whether He'll Run for Re-Election in 2024

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  December 22, 2021 9:45 PM

There have been doubts for some time now about President Joe Biden running for a second term. During his first national press conference on March 25--64 days into his term--Biden indicated he planned to run for re-election. Last month, as Madeline reported, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said to reporters that it's "his intention" to run again. And, during a Wednesday interview with ABC News' David Muir, Biden indicated he planned to run again, but there was an "if" involved.

"You said you would absolutely serve eight years if elected," Muir reminded the president. "Do you plan to run for reelection?" 

Biden responded with a "yes," though there was an immediate caveat. "But look," he continued. "I'm a great respecter of fate. Fate has intervened in my life many, many times. If I'm in the health I'm in now, if I'm in good health, then in fact I would run again."

Muir moved on to asking about "a rematch against Donald Trump," a hypothetical matchup polls have indeed been asking about. 

With a bright smile, Biden claimed "you're trying to tempt me now." As he laughed, Biden said "sure," asking "why would I not run against Donald Trump if he were the nominee," even sharing "that'd increase the prospect of running."

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As we've been covering for some time now, former President Trump consistently fares better than President Biden in hypothetical matchups.

Besides how he's being outperformed in the polls against his predecessor, we're painfully reminded just about every day that Biden's the oldest president ever elected. He isn't getting any younger, either. Should he indeed run again in 2024, Biden will be just a few weeks away from turning 82 come that Election Day. He'll be 86 upon leaving office, should he be reelected and serve out that full term.

There are those who have raised the idea of a cognitive test. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who was a doctor to former Presidents Trump and Barack Obama, signed onto a letter with other congressmen in June calling for Biden to take a cognitive test. He also spoke about Biden's capacity during a segment he did on Fox News' "Hannity" in July.

"I was saying this when he was candidate Joe Biden, and I've been saying that it's only going to get worse, and guess what. We're watching that happen right before our eyes right now,” Jackson said. "There's something seriously going on with this man right now, and, you know, I think that he's either going to resign, they're going to convince him to resign from office at some point in the near future for medical issues or they're going to have to use the 25th Amendment to get rid of this man right now."

Last month, Nikki Haley called for a cognitive test for politicians of an advanced age.

"What I’ll tell you is, rather than making this about a person, we seriously need to have a conversation that if you’re going to have anyone above a certain age in a position of power – whether it’s the House, whether it’s the Senate, whether it’s vice president – you should have some sort of cognitive test," Haley said during an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). She had also said that Biden's mental state "makes every nervous."

Even mainstream media outlets, such as The Washington Post and Business Insider, have already been covering the 2024 with the narrative that there will be another Democratic nominee on the ticket. Favorites appear to be Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.