NBC casts dark light on Biden legacy and current White House mood: ‘Like a morgue’
NBC News shed light on President Biden's legacy and the somber mood engulfing the White House in the president's final days in an article on Thursday.
The article contrasted Biden's pledge "to unite the country, strengthen his party and defend democracy," when he took office, to what actually manifested during his term as president.
Biden "leaves a nation divided, a party in tatters and the American people questioning the self-described institutionalist’s respect for the rule of law," according to the report.
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This disconnect between Biden's pledge when he took office, and his actions as president, has led to many Democrats "blaming Biden for handing the White House to Donald Trump, criticizing the aging politician for staying in office too long and reeling after he pardoned his son," said NBC News.
According to a person directly familiar with Biden's comments, the president "privately mused about the idea of pardoning [President-elect Donald] Trump as a magnanimous move," while at the same time, the president was "not on speaking terms with some of his closest allies."
Prominent Democratic political strategist James Carvile is quoted in the article, giving his take on Biden's legacy and his final days in office.
"The Joe Biden story is one of the great tragedies of American politics. I really mean that. He should be having a glorious, well deserved, highly acclaimed retirement. And he’s not," Carville said, adding, "It’s hard to blame anybody but him."
According to a person who recently met with officials at the White House, the current mood feels "like a morgue," with one White House official saying that personnel are trying to hold back emotions until Biden officially leaves the Oval Office.
"It’s hard to reflect, it’s hard for it to sink in that we’re done here — until we’re actually done and out the gates with our stuff," one White House official told NBC, adding, "it hasn’t sunk in for people who are still here yet because we’re working until the last minute."
The article details Biden's "many fractured friendships," claiming, "He is estranged from some of the people who were once among his most powerful allies."
According to NBC News, "He [Biden] harbors, along with first lady Jill Biden, a simmering resentment toward former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several former aides, including Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn, all of whom he believes either failed him or pushed him out of the 2024 race, according to several people close to him."
An aide to ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, revealed she and Biden have not had a substantive meeting together since she pressured him to drop out of the presidential race in July.
A person close to Biden corroborated this claim, saying, "That relationship is permanently damaged."
Jill Biden also told the Washington Post in an article published this week that she was "disappointed" in Pelosi's actions.
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Although President Biden has not pubically expressed his frustrations with former President Obama, Ben Rhodes, a former aide to Obama, pointed out Biden's recent decision to name aircraft carriers after former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, seemingly snubbing Obama.
"Barack H. Obama did not get a f---ing personnel carrier named after him," Rhodes said on an episode of the "Pod Save The World" podcast.
NBC News was also critical of Biden pardoning his son Hunter Biden, claiming, "Biden went back on his promise to protect the norms he said undergirded the nation’s stability by pardoning his Hunter Biden on federal gun and tax charges."
The article also alleges that former Biden advisor, Anita Dunn, and former Biden lawyer, Bob Bauer, blamed members of Biden's family for them being "unceremoniously" cut from the president's inner circle.
"Dunn and Bauer resented being unceremoniously cast out of the president’s inner circle and blamed two Biden family members in particular for that — Hunter Biden and Jill Biden," claimed NBC News.
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A mournful quote from James Carville at the end of the article seems to encapsulate the overall energy surrounding the end of the Biden presidency.
"Joe Biden had many successful acts in his life. Unfortunately, you get remembered for your last act," he said. "Right now, he’s remembered as the guy who stayed too long."