Reporter confronts confused Biden about his own exit: ‘Does Gavin need to stand by?’

President Biden departed the White House on Tuesday en route to Los Angeles and spoke to reporters before boarding Marine One.

As he approached the press pool, a reporter called out, “You’re going to California. Is this about coming up with a Plan B for 2024 — does Gavin need to stand by?”

Ignoring the question, Biden quipped, “Are you ready?”

“Well I’m looking for— I’m looking at you. We’re looking at you,” the 81-year-old president joked without addressing the question, before pivoting to talk about new sanctions on Russia.

There is a widely held belief that Newsom has been running a “shadow campaign” for the White House in the event Biden does not run. Of course, he would have to contend with Vice President Kamala Harris and perhaps others in such a quest.

Polling has Biden trailing likely 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump and concerns about his cognitive health have reached a fever pitch since the release of special counsel Robert Hur’s report on his probe of Biden’s handling of classified documents. In deciding not to pursue charges, Hur described the president as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” further characterizing his memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor,” and having “significant limitations.”

Biden would be 86 if he completes a full second term, and the White House is “extremely upset” with the New York Times for its coverage of his age, according to the newspaper’s publisher, A.G. Sulzberger.

“We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden. He is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office. We’ve reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it,” Sulzberger said.

Adding to his worries, Biden is facing historically low approval numbers, and NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki compared Biden’s 37% approval rating to the last days of George W. Bush’s presidency during an appearance on MSNBC.

“That is his low in our poll. That’s the lowest a president has checked in an NBC poll since the final days of the George W. Bush administration in 2008,” Kornacki said.

“Bush won, he started at 54%. Barack Obama started at 49% in 2012, he won,” Kornacki said. “Donald Trump was at 46%, started 2020. He lost. Joe Biden, look at that number, it stands out, 37%, markedly different. Only two incumbent presidents seeking reelection have had approval ratings at this level or below in their reelection year. They were George H.W. Bush in 1992 and Jimmy Carter in 1980.”

Of course, Carter and H.W. Bush were defeated.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:

Tom Tillison

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