CNN host Jake Tapper ripped President Biden on Sunday for what he described as a “nonsensical” claim during a recent conversation with reporters, which was that Vice President Kamala Harris could have beaten President-elect Donald Trump.
“Okay, first of all, just I think Kamala would have beaten Trump? She ran against him, and she lost, so that’s just nonsensical,” Tapper said during “State of the Union.”
Biden told reporters Friday that his decision to drop out was more about unifying the party, and said, “And I think that Kamala could’ve beaten Trump, would’ve beaten Trump,” according to Mediaite. Biden has said multiple times he believes he would have won a general election against Trump.
“I think he was trying to backtrack after he’s been spending the last couple of months, like, basically dissing her,” the CNN host added.
Former Biden communications aide Kate Bedingfield appeared to defend the president and said he was likely trying to give Harris “kudos” for running a strong campaign.
“I think I would’ve beaten Trump, could’ve beaten Trump. And I think that Kamala could’ve beaten Trump, would’ve beaten Trump. It wasn’t about – I thought it was important to unify the party. And when the party was worried about whether or not I was going to be able to move, I thought, even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party,” Biden told reporters on Friday.
Bedingfield said Tapper’s analysis was unfair and said, “I think what he was trying to do there was acknowledge that she ran a strong race, that he was proud of her. That‘s that‘s how he articulated it.”
When asked in a USA Today interview if he would have won had he not dropped out on July 21, Biden replied, “It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes.” USA Today summarized that he continued by “adding he based that view on polling he had reviewed.”
CNN poling guru Harry Enten said Biden’s claims were nonsense.
“Based on the polling data, I categorize Biden’s statement that he could have beaten Trump as ‘flat out bonkers,’” Enten wrote in a Wednesday X post. “Biden was well behind Trump when he dropped out. Biden never led in all of 2024. And no incumbent president who was anywhere near as unpopular as Biden has ever won.”
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“Why do I say that his statement is flat-out bonkers that he could have won the 2024 election if he had stayed in the race? Just take a look here,” Enten added.
He then showed the polling numbers from around the time Biden dropped out of the race, particularly in the Great Lake battleground states, where it was “Donald Trump ahead in all 3.”
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
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