FORMER PRESIDENT BIDEN is sitting for his first interviews since leaving office, as Democrats grapple with an identity crisis and seek a new generation of leaders to guide them out of the political wilderness.

Biden gave his first post-presidency interview to the BBC, where he criticized Trump’s handling of global affairs, from the Russia-Ukraine war to his talk of acquiring Greenland.

“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” Biden said. “We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation.”

President Trump swung back during a press conference in the Oval Office.

“He didn’t know what the hell he was doing,” Trump said.

“We went through four years of misery,” Trump added, saying there wouldn’t have been an Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel; inflation; or a war between Russia and Ukraine if Biden hadn’t been elected.

For some Democrats, Biden’s legacy will be about his decision to drop out of the 2024 campaign after a disastrous debate performance exacerbated voter concerns about his age and ability to serve.

He quickly endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris, who gave Democrats a jolt of excitement that fizzled out on election night, when Trump carried every swing state.

Biden said in the BBC interview that he has no regrets and that it wouldn’t have mattered if he dropped out earlier or allowed for a competitive primary.

“I don’t know how that would have made much of a difference,” Biden said.

He argued that he stuck around because his first term was going so well he wanted to ride the momentum.

“I’d become so successful in our agenda, it was hard to say, I’m going to stop now,” Biden said. “I meant what I said when I started, that I’m preparing to hand this to the next generation, it’s a transition government, but things move so quickly it made it difficult to walk away.”

A slew of new books hit the shelves this year reporting on Biden’s decline and how those around him conspired to shield him from public scrutiny.

Biden and former first lady Jill Biden will appear for a joint interview on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday.

Harris has not sat for any interviews, but she’s given two public speeches and appeared at the Met Gala in New York this week.

Biden’s former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview on MSNBC that the party can’t return to the status quo and must land on a message that resonates with ordinary Americans if they’re going to win elections again.

“If my party seems like it’s calling for a return to a status quo from before, that would be both substantively wrong, and politically it would fail,” Buttigieg said.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who will hold a town hall event in Pennsylvania this week, wrote in an op-ed for The Philadelphia Inquirer:

“Democrats still look like the party that brought a knife to a gunfight. And honestly, it’s not as easy as just standing up to Donald Trump at every possible chance. Voters want Washington to work. They want their elected leaders to work together and solve problems, not score points.”

Republicans are dealing with their own governing struggles.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released an analysis finding that millions of people would lose their health insurance coverage under GOP proposals to cut Medicaid spending to pay for Trump’s agenda.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has already taken one controversial proposal to cut Medicaid funding off the table and said another would likely be excluded from the final bill.

The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel writes:

“The analysis…shows the trade-offs facing Republicans as they try to pay for their party-line bill, which among other provisions would fund an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.”

There are other issues.

Conservative fiscal hawks warned Johnson that Trump’s agenda bill “must not add to the deficit.”

And a handful of Republicans from blue states say they’ll sink the tax bill if it doesn’t raise the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations, [and] a lot of ideas have been exchanged,” said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who is among the GOP’s SALT absolutists. “But we’re very far from a specific deal.”

Republicans also have electoral concerns.

They fear Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will run for the Senate, costing them a seat in a key swing state.

“That is a swing state that’s pretty independent-minded,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-S.D.). “If I was to put my political science hat on and look at all the criteria, she wouldn’t be high on my list of recruits.”

????Perspectives:

• The Free Press: The old man and the AOC.

• The Liberal Patriot: The rise of anti-politics.

• The American Mind: Trump’s second term is reshaping American politics.

• MSNBC: Donald Trump can’t figure out how to lie about Medicaid cuts.

• New York: Everyone is cheating their way through college.

Read more: 

• Kemp’s move scrambles GOP effort to oust Ossoff.

• Trump endorses Lawler’s reelection amid N.Y. governor speculation.

• GOP rep missing votes, rescheduling town hall over ‘credible threat’.

• GOP divided over Trump budget’s treatment of Pentagon.

• SALT deal elusive as moderates, hardliners dig in.

• Black smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel after cardinals held the first vote to select a new pope on the first day of the conclave, meaning deliberations will continue.

   

• The Trump administration is investigating allegations of antisemitism at the University of Washington after more 30 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested for occupying and damaging a school building.

   

• Utah is the best state to live in, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

©  Erin Hooley, Associated Press

The Federal Reserve held rates steady Wednesday, despite pressure from President Trump to lower borrowing costs amid the trade war with China.

The central bank also issued a warning:

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.”

Powell acknowledged that it's difficult to figure how to handle interest rates, saying there's a disconnect between the strong economic data and weakening consumer and business confidence.

“The economy itself is still in solid shape,” Powell said, calling for patience.

This comes as top Trump officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, plan to meet with their Chinese counterparts about tariffs in Switzerland.

The president was asked about China’s claims that the U.S. asked for the meeting.

“I think they ought to go back and study their files,” Trump said.

Trump was also asked if he’d pull back on tariffs to get the negotiations going.

“No,” he responded.

Trump on Wednesday swore in former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) to be his ambassador to China.

• Republicans are tired of Trump returning to his talking point that little girls can make do with fewer dolls if prices go up.

“It would be helpful to be more relatable,” one GOP senator said.

Bessent didn’t get the message.

“I would tell that young girl that you will have a better life than your parents,” he said in an interview on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

• Ford plans to raise prices on some of its car models, citing Trump’s tariffs.

????Perspectives:

• The Hill: Trump has damaged U.S.-Canada relations.

• Salon: The world is reversing course to reject Trumpism.

• Sasha Stone: The last spectacular ball of the elite's empire.

©  Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP

Vice President Vance criticized Russia for failing to come to a peace agreement with Ukraine, a marked shift in tone after his explosive Oval Office exchange earlier this year with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Right now the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict,” Vance said at the Munich Leaders Conference in Washington. “We think they’re asking for too much.”

Vance said he appreciates that Ukraine accepted the U.S. offer of a 30-day ceasefire, but said Russia won’t accept it, resulting in an impasse.

“We’re getting to a point where some decisions are going to have to be made,” President Trump said Wednesday in the Oval Office. “I’m not happy about it.”

• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Pentagon hasn’t responded to his inquiries after an Army helicopter forced two commercial passenger jets to shift course at Reagan Washington National Airport.

Duffy told Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum he doesn’t have any information to share because the Defense Department hasn’t gotten back to him.

That incident is the latest in a string of aviation mishaps at major U.S. airports.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it’s taking “immediate steps” to improve operations at Newark Liberty International Airport after air traffic controller screens went dark for 30 seconds, completely shutting off communication with pilots.

The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports:

“The Navy has lost a second F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, a week after another jet sank into the waters.”

Trump suffered several more setbacks in court:

• A second federal judge ruled that Trump exceeded his authority in using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans alleged to be gang members.

• A federal judge blocked the administration from dismantling of three federal agencies that support libraries, museums, minority businesses and mediation services. 

• A federal appeals court panel denied the Trump administration’s request to lift a judge’s order to physically transfer detained Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk from Louisiana to Vermont.

????Perspectives:

• MSNBC: Strengthening Harvard’s resistance.

• Washington Free Beacon: Pulitzer’s affirm media’s woke politics.

• The Wall Street Journal: Schumer opposed air traffic reforms for years.

Read more: 

• Pakistan labels deadly India strike act of war.

• 200+ alleged child predators arrested in FBI operation.

• Trump’s social media team gets aggressive with memes, AI.

• Supreme Court faces backlog of emergency cases.

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