Former Vice President Joe Biden is hellbent on insisting that he can and will extract cooperation and bipartisanship from his Republican peers — and less rosy-eyed observers are getting angry.
At a fundraiser Monday night, he shared his faith in his GOP counterparts.
“With Trump gone you’re going to begin to see things change,” he said per HuffPost. “Because these folks know better. They know this isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing.”
His statement has echoes of what he said last month, when he predicted “an epiphany” among his “Republican friends” when President Donald Trump leaves office.
For some, the refrain is getting old.
A senator from Illinois joked:
Asked about Biden theory that GOP will change after Trump leaves office, Durbin deadpans: “A thousand flowers will bloom, children will smile, and America will be happy again.”
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) June 11, 2019
Senior writer at Rolling Stone Jamil Smith was not convinced:
It seems @JoeBiden isn’t making a real argument for the presidency and is just gaslighting instead. @CoryBooker said it well Sunday: “Beating Donald Trump is the floor—it is not the ceiling. Beating him will get us out of the valley but it will not get us to the mountaintop.” https://t.co/pMD6viA1jc
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 11, 2019
Shaun King, a columnist at the Intercept, argued Biden is “out of touch”:
I sincerely think @JoeBiden may be the single most out of touch Democrat in the nation.
This thought that he keeps repeating is so problematic. https://t.co/eFqqnmdRMT
— Shaun King (@shaunking) June 11, 2019
National affairs correspondent at the Nation Joan Walsh reminded Biden of his history with congressional Republicans:
I will vote for @JoeBiden if he is the nominee. But let me just say: He is talking about the same GOP that STOLE his BFF’s SCOTUS pick. Also, he was a little too cozy with Mitch McConnell even when VP, if you ask Harry Reid. Joe, you can do better! Please!
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) June 11, 2019
Biden seems unperturbed. He plans to continue the theme in his remarks to be delivered during a campaign stop in Iowa on Tuesday.
“He is deliberately and completely ignoring the legitimate authority of the Congress — and he’s doing it with the full complicity of the Republicans in Congress who know better,” he plans to say of Trump in his prepared statement. “I will look to work with the Congress. I will work across the aisle. I will seek to find consensus.”
In a time of turbulence and vicious partisanship, Biden is hoping that branding himself as the aisle-crossing candidate will appeal to those weary from the constant battling.
