On Politics: Biden fades into the background
Biden is no longer front and center — and it's liberating to himThe latest, with 53 days to go
It was not so long ago that President Biden expected to be the center of the world's attention right about now. Had he not been forced out after his debate disaster, he would be in the intense, final stretch of his re-election bid. Instead, this week underscored how quickly Biden has faded into the background, no longer perceived by many Americans as someone whose every political utterance should be debated at the dinner table. Biden remains the nation's president and commander in chief at a time when the world is confronted by war, economic fragility and rising tensions. The president is overseeing difficult negotiations aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hamas and bringing hostages home. He will attend the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. at the end of the month. And he is weighing whether to allow Ukraine more flexibility to use long-range weapons against Russia. "We're working that out right now," Biden told reporters as he boarded Marine One at the White House this week. But the focus is elsewhere. That's both a sign that the world is moving on and a fact that allows him to be a little more liberated. On Tuesday night, while 67 million Americans watched Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debate on their television screens (and likely millions more on phones and tablets), Biden spent the evening in a hotel suite at the JW Marriott Essex House in New York City, just a one-minute drive from Trump Tower. Earlier, he had attended a birthday party for his granddaughter, Finnegan, at Campagnola, a restaurant that says it specializes in "country-style Italian dining." Before the debate, Mr. Biden said he planned to watch, saying that Ms. Harris "seems calm, cool, and collected. I think she's going to do great." But it must have been a special kind of excruciating to see her deftly handle Mr. Trump in exactly the ways that he could not. Before the June 27 debate that all but ended his half-century of public service, Biden's trips to New York involved fund-raisers at the Upper West Side homes of millionaires and billionaires. On Tuesday, he essentially had the night off ahead of his attendance the next morning at the annual Sept. 11 memorial at ground zero, a somber moment for every president. But even there, people could be excused if they thought Biden seemed like an afterthought. He stood silently next to Michael Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor whose public career is largely over. The focus of the news cameras? The handshake between Harris and Trump as Biden stood between them. It is, after all, Harris who is now the face of the Democratic Party. And while the rank and file clearly feel fondly about Mr. Biden, he no longer represents the future. The result is a sense of lightness to Mr. Biden in recent days that reporters — including this one — have not seen in years, perhaps indicating that the decision to bow out of the race has lifted some of the sense of burden from his shoulders. That seemed evident during a visit on Wednesday to a firehouse in Shanksville, Pa., where Biden honored the victims of Flight 93. In a lighthearted exchange, Biden encouraged a Trump supporter to wear his presidential baseball cap. He even signed it. Biden then agreed to briefly wear the man's "Trump 2024" hat, an image that quickly went viral. It was the kind of moment that the president would likely never have dared to risk when he was running for re-election. But the glare of the spotlight is less intense now. "I'm proud of you now, you old fart," the Trump supporter told the president. (A White House spokesman later said the exchange of hats was all about bipartisan unity. "As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it," said Andrew Bates, the spokesman.) At the White House this week, Biden celebrated Disability Pride Month, marked the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act and met with Keir Starmer, the new British prime minister. He also honored the men's and women's college basketball champions. Before leaving for New York on Tuesday, Mr. Biden told the Gamecocks, the University of South Carolina women's basketball team and winners of the 2024 N.C.A.A. championship, "I'll tell you what, I don't think anybody is watching men's basketball anymore." And he marveled — maybe with just a little bit of envy — at the back-to-back victories by the University of Connecticut men's basketball team, the Huskies. "I won't be here next year," he joked, "but you may be."
THE MOMENT What happened when the debate endedJust six photographers were allowed into hall during Tuesday night's presidential debate, and The Times's Doug Mills was one of them. This is what he saw right after the director on set said, "We're off the air." We were all expecting the possibility that family members would come onstage. Instead, former President Donald Trump just walked directly off the stage, down the steps and out of the auditorium. Vice President Kamala Harris turned and looked toward the applause from her side of the stage. As she started walking off, her husband, Doug Emhoff, came onstage and gave her a hug and kiss. They turned around and walked out. By this time, Trump was down the steps and out of camera angle. I think we can see some frustration on Trump's face, and a smirk on Harris's. In this moment, their expressions said everything. — Doug Mills Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have feedback? Ideas for coverage? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.
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