President Joe Biden discussed the upcoming election during a Wednesday appearance on ABC's The View.
The president was introduced by host Sara Haines, who praised Biden for "passing the torch" to Vice President Kamala Harris after exiting the 2024 race in late July. Biden said he was "at peace" with his decision to drop out of the race and reiterated that he saw himself as a "transition president" when he ran against former President Donald Trump in 2020.
"Transitioning to a new generation of leadership," Biden said before touting "so much success" accomplished in his administration. "I found myself having used more time than I would have ordinarily to pass that torch."
The president went on to praise Harris as "bright, tough, honorable," adding that he and his vice president "share an optimistic view on the future."
Fellow co-host Sunny Hostin noted Biden was "the only American who has ever beaten Trump" and asked the president for his advice for Harris on defeating Trump this November.
"Be yourself," Biden said. "Look, she is smart as hell, number one. She's tough. She was a first-rate prosecutor. She was a United States senator [of] significant consequence."
Fellow co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, the program's resident conservative host who previously worked in Trump's administration, noted that some believed Biden was forced to end his reelection campaign by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
"I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance of my running again," Biden said, adding he had a fine relationship with Pelosi. Sara Haines gets the first question and kicks off with asking him about how he "passed the torch" to Harris:
"What have these past two months felt like, and are you at peace with your decision?" pic.twitter.com/pk3fm2w4dl
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 25, 2024
The president went on to joke that part of his decision to step away from the presidential race was his difficulty remembering his age.
"It's hard for me to even say how old I am," Biden said. "No, I'm serious. ... It's like, holy God, that can't be right."
Host Whoopi Goldberg said she opposed how publicly Biden's exit from the race was handled.
"Nobody says it out loud. I don't like the way it was done publicly. I thought they could have done this in a different way because we didn't need to hear all the inner fighting," she said, adding Biden was her "ride or die" candidate. "I was going where you were going. That's where I was going." Whoopi goes off on how the Democrats forced Biden out of the race because it aired Democrat laundry:
"Nobody says it out loud. I don't like the way it was done publicly. I thought they could have done this in a different way because we didn't need to hear all the inner fighting." pic.twitter.com/jRt1gyh4qo
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 25, 2024
Goldberg then compared Trump to a bothersome fly, to which Biden smacked his hand on the table prompting laughter from the audience.
Fellow co-host Ana Navarro praised Biden's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which were implemented throughout the White House and his administration.
"You gave us Kamala Harris, the first woman vice president. You gave us Becerra, Cardona, Mayorkas, Guzman, all the people. So thank you, thank you, thank you for that!" Navarro said.
The panel continued their praise of Biden as the segment came to a close.
