President Donald Trump told The Spectator that former President Joe Biden blamed former President Barack Obama and Representative Nancy Pelosi for the Democrats’ election loss last year.
Newsweek reached out to spokespeople for Biden, Obama, Pelosi, and the Democratic National Committee via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Democrats have spent months debating who is to blame for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in last November’s presidential race. While the debate certainly has ideological divides, others say her loss has more to do with issues like inflation or Biden’s unpopularity before his exit from the race after a troubling debate performance against Trump.
Biden has said he believes he could have beaten Trump had he stayed in the race, though many Democrats disagree.
The debate over the Democrats’ losses last year will have key implications for how they shape their messaging and policy and choose their messengers and politicians, moving forward into the 2026 midterms, when they hope to retake control of Congress.
President Donald Trump (L) and former President Joe Biden speak at the White House on November 13, 2024.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
What To Know
Trump told The Spectator that during a private conversation in the White House after the election, he asked Biden who he blamed for the election results.
“And I asked him, I said, ‘So who do you blame?’ Because he was very angry, you know, he was a very angry guy, actually. And he said, ‘I blame Barack.’ And I never think of him as ‘Barack.’ You know, you always hear ‘Obama.’ You say you have to think about that for a second. And he said, ‘and I also blame Nancy Pelosi,'” Trump told the publication.
Trump said he also asked Biden if he blamed Harris for her loss, but that Biden allegedly said he didn’t believe it was Harris’ fault.
“He said, ‘No, I don’t blame her,’ which was interesting. Yeah. He didn’t blame her. He blamed…he told me he blamed those two people,” Trump told The Spectator.
Biden has not confirmed Trump’s account of this conversation. However, there have been other reports about a divide between Biden, Obama, and Pelosi.
In July, The New York Times reported that Biden was “irritated” that Obama may have been involved in talks about removing him from the presidential ticket after the debate, during which he sounded hoarse and appeared to struggle with answers at several points.
Pelosi has been more publicly critical of Biden, saying after the election that candidates other than Harris could have been considered to lead the ticket had he left the race earlier.
Many Democrats viewed Pelosi declining to say Biden should stay in the race as a pivotal moment that ultimately led to his withdrawal.
Trump ‘Surprised’ By Relationship With Keir Starmer
Trump also said in the Spectator interview that he was “surprised” by his relationship with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the liberal-leaning Labor Party.
“I know where he comes from, from a political standpoint,” Trump said. “I was surprised we got along very well. I mean, we had a lunch that ended up being longer than we thought. That’s always a good sign, you know, longer in the sense that we got along.”
Trump Discusses Dinner with Jeff Bezos
Trump said in the interview that he had dinner with former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and addressed whether he trusts Bezos and other billionaires.
“Who do I trust? I mean, who do you trust? Do you trust anybody? These are very smart guys. And I always say to them, we have dinners together, usually started by them. I’m so busy with all of this. Between China, Russia, Ukraine, I’ve got more things happening,” Trump told the publication.
He added that he asks many people he meets with whether they would have met him if he lost, but they “never answer that question.”
What People Are Saying
Former first lady Jill Biden told The Washington Post in January when asked about Representative Nancy Pelosi: “We were friends for 50 years. It was disappointing.”
Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, to Politico, on Jill Biden: “If I was Lady McBiden, I’d put on my big girl pants, play the long game, and think about my husband’s legacy. There aren’t that many people left in America who have something nice to say about Joe Biden, and Nancy Pelosi is one of them.”
What Happens Next
Democrats will likely continue debating the reasons for their defeats as they try to find ways to move the party forward.
