Beto O’Rourke says Biden ‘failed this country’ by seeking re-election

Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke told the “Pod Save America” podcast on Thursday that former President Joe Biden “failed this country” by seeking re-election, which he believes contributed to current President Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in 2024.

O’Rourke argued that Biden should not have sought a second term and slammed the former president for trying to “sell” the public on the idea that he was the only candidate capable of defeating Trump.

“It’s not just you and me, but our kids and grandkids and the generations that follow that might have to pay the price for this,” he said, adding, “We might very well lose the greatest country that this world has ever known.”

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The former congressman and failed 2022 Texas gubernatorial candidate continued to place blame on Biden’s reelection efforts for the Democratic Party’s loss in 2024, suggesting that having an open primary would have benefited the party.

“It might be in part because of the decision that Biden and those around him made to run for re-election instead of having an open primary, where the greatest talent that the Democratic Party can muster could be on that stage, to have a competition of ideas and track record and vision, and really excite not just Democrats but the people of this country who did want change,” O’Rourke asserted.

He claimed that “if anything was clear coming out of 2024,” it was that Americans wanted change.

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O’Rourke also criticized members of Congress who, in the lead-up to the 2024 election, claimed that Biden was “running circles” around them in closed-door briefings.

“It just doesn’t add up with what I’m seeing with my own lying eyes,” he recalled, adding that Democrats covering for Biden’s alleged decline in mental acuity while in office created a credibility issue for the party moving forward.

During a speech at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics in 2023, O’Rourke echoed a similar sentiment towards Biden’s reelection efforts, telling the crowd that Democratic voters were “unexcited” about a second Biden term.

“This is critical if you want to win in 2024. It is no secret that Democratic voters are unexcited about Biden — that’s putting it politely. It is no secret, thanks to the poll that we just read,” he said. 

“The young voters, especially, are leaving his banner in droves. Now will they vote for Donald Trump? Will they vote for [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]? Will they not vote at all? I don’t know. But let’s give them a reason to vote for the president. Something bold, something big, something that matches the rhetoric that he used in 2020 and inspires voters in 2024 is what’s needed right now,” O’Rourke added.