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Biden thinks Trump won’t concede if he loses election: ‘He’ll do anything to try to win’

In a rare feature interview with The New Yorker, the president said he believed he was the person ‘best positioned’ to beat Mr Trump at the national polls again

Mike Bedigan
Los Angeles
Monday 04 March 2024 19:24 GMT
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Joe Biden says that Donald Trump will “do anything” to try and win the 2024 presidential election, and contest the outcome “no matter what the result is”.

Ahead of Super Tuesday on 5 March, a rematch of the 2020 election – pitting the two men against each other – is all but certain, following Mr Trump’s domination of the Republican primaries so far.

In a rare feature interview with The New Yorker, Mr Biden said he believed he was the person “best positioned” to beat Mr Trump at the national polls again.

“I’m the only one who has ever beat him. And I’ll beat him again,” he said, adding rhetorically: “If you thought you were best positioned to beat someone who, if they won, would change the nature of America, what would you do?”

Despite his confidence, supporters continue to voice serious concern about Mr Biden’s age.

A recent poll by The New York Times/Siena College poll has found some 73 per cent of voters believe he is too old to be an effective president.

Mr Biden said he believed he was the person ‘best positioned’ to beat Mr Trump at the national polls again in 2024
Mr Biden said he believed he was the person ‘best positioned’ to beat Mr Trump at the national polls again in 2024 (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Some 42 per cent of voters believe Mr Trump is also too old for the job, being just four years younger than Mr Biden and raising eyebrows over the weekend with a string of gaffes.

In his interview with the magazine, the president also discussed the fallout from the insurrection on Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021. A CBS poll back in January 2024 found that half of the respondents believed that the losing side of this year’s election would resort to violence.

Mr Biden told The New Yorker that he believed Americans would reject a “Trumpist” view of politics, but was prepared for the outcome to get ugly.

“How can we, as a democracy, elect anyone President who says violence is appropriate?” said, adding that it seemed that the media had become “numbed” by Mr Trump’s rhetoric and behaviour.

On his likely rival, he added: “Losers who are losers are never graceful.

“I just think that he’ll do anything to try to win. If—and when—I win, I think he’ll contest it. No matter what the result is.”

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