Joe Biden

Viewed by Zelensky as weak and engaged in a strained relationship with the Ukrainian president.

“So there is a very good American journalist who wrote a book, and he mentioned that relationships, but I also met him and, um, he told me in private conversation that Biden was thinking that Zelensky was emotionally manipulative. When I was there, uh, [laughs]…”

Zelenskyy believed Biden was the only obstacle to NATO membership and perceived him as weak.

“... you see? So I believe that Zelenskyy, i- if that journalist who wasn't inside at the White House says that Zelenskyy thought Biden was weak, I believe Zelenskyy thought Biden is weak, and he can pressure and get the NATO thing. Because Zelenskyy actually d…”

His administration reportedly allowed Russia to finish the Nord Stream pipeline due to frustration with Ukrainian reforms.

“... is going... I mean, I, I, I don't know if your audience is going to understand everything, but Nord Stream was a pipeline that, uh, Russia was building to bring its own, uh, gas to, to the European Union, and it was sanctioned by, by the United States. And…”

Mendel questions his mental fitness in the context of his meetings with Zelenskyy.

“And so when I'm thinking about his meeting with Biden, who has, has been proved by Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper had really already mental problems, I'm thinking, where did this world come to that there is one person leader with mental challenges and another p…”

Mentioned in the context of Zelenskyy's travel and the Biden administration's influence on continuing the war.

“Yes. And I- Italy is investigating it. But there was one guy, a story that nobody paid attention to, who died when Zelenskyy was traveling to Mr. Biden in September 2023.”

Mentioned in the context of media criticism regarding his age and the political double standard compared to Trump.

“Yeah, I agree. I mean, Democrats need to get beyond Biden. They just need to forget about it. Yes, that was an effective issue against Biden. That doesn't mean they don't get to talk about it. And if someone wants to say-”

Described as being significantly stronger on the Taiwan issue than Trump.

“I mean, I hope that's not entirely the case. And the Taiwanese are pretty resilient. They have a little bit of Ukraine in them probably, but, uh, and they... Yeah, I don't know. And this, again, is the damage, I mean, that's been done by Trump. You can't just …”

Mentioned as a past president whose perceived weakness would have been heavily criticized by the right-wing media.

“... and weak and a coward. I think that this would've already set in if this was Carter or Obama or Biden, like this idea that this is a display of American weakness. I've said this before on the pod, so just briefly, like part of it is I think that some Democ…”

Mentioned in the context of the Biden-Harris campaign management.

“... with Rob if you want. But he had a great piece, Rob Flaherty did. He was the, uh, deputy campaign manager really overseeing digital for the Biden-Harris campaign and then the Harris campaign. And, um, since the DNC wasn't doing an autopsy, he did a, "Here …”

Mentioned for his campaign pitch regarding the soul of the country and framing Trump as the status quo.

“... and wish it away. Uh, you know, you have to be talking about, like, what-- how can we build a future, you know, that is better for people, that is not a total sellout to the existing interests? I thought he was, he was good on that, and I think that's anot…”

US President used as an analogy for leadership transition and succession planning.

“No, it is not. And you've been saying, and look, I, and I get your point. I do. I totally get it. You, you've been making the analogy between Keir Starmer and Joe Biden. If the party has decided he's not going to fight the next election, get a successor, get a…”

Used as a reference point for a leader stepping down from their position.

“Yeah, I think he'll definitely be prime minister by the end of the day. I think he's gonna, he's, he's gonna, he's gonna Joe Biden it. I just, I just think that [laughs]... I, I just think the, the problem is we're so clearly now into the when is he gonna go, …”

Mentioned in the context of party decisions regarding his candidacy.

“this may be impossible, but I would go longer. I would combine the points that you're making. I would combine the points that you're making about Joe Biden, if the party decides he's, he can't go, and the point that I made earlier about Mark Carney, that, you …”

Mentioned as an example of a president who plays hardball politics with his own party members.

“... I don't remember NPR being upset when Joe Biden's people called around and threatened members of Congress who had the, to marry to, to say that the president had lost a step or two. You know, this is what presidents do.”

Mentioned as a president who, like Trump, should not be the subject of violent ideation.

“It, it is, and you know, just to look at the other side, I've had plenty of patients who hated, disliked Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, but they didn't sit up at night thinking about him. They certainly never wanted him or those people to be killed-And the differ…”

Mentioned in the context of political blame for inflation, though the speakers note he is not the current incumbent in this specific scenario.

“Only 26% say inconvenient but not difficult, and only 15% say, "Not affected. It's not an issue for me." Um, this is interesting. Are you getting a clear understanding of the situation in the Stra- in the Strait of Hormuz? 69% say, "I have no fucking clue what…”

Extended the sanctions on Cuba that were originally implemented by the Trump administration.

“Yeah, your, your description is accurate. Uh, not, and not only did, uh, we cut off Venezuelan oil from getting, uh, to Cuba, Trump also o- re- basically told every other country that they were not allowed to send any oil to Cuba. They told Me- Mexico, and cou…”

Criticized for lacking political will regarding psychedelic policy and for his past legislative record on drug sentencing.

“Yeah, I, I think that it's quite likely really w- within this presidency to, you know, to see several, um, you know, psychedelic drugs approved now, which, which is, you know, a huge, a huge development really. I mean, Joe Biden, there was talk about him setti…”

Criticized for policies that allegedly solidified the economic break between Russia and Europe.

“China in our Cold War with them or worse." And which I think is stupid and didn't work. I think that was the, the choice that Joe Biden made, and I think it was totally wrong, 'cause it just strengthened the relationship between Russia and China. The Russians …”

Criticized for his administration's foreign policy decisions regarding Ukraine and Russia.

“Damascus, which is, of course, exactly what happened at the end of '24.They said we could increase support for the, what was then the ongoing civil war that had broken out after the revolution in 2014. And we could increase support for the Ukrainian side of th…”

Mentioned as a U.S. president in the context of global power dynamics.

“Government-backed businesses making deals and buying up resources and stuff. But I, I, I really don't think that Xi Jinping is looking at George W. Bush and Barack Obama and Donald Trump and Joe Biden and going, "Yeah, that's what I wanna do for my country is …”

Mentioned as having made statements regarding the prevention of the pipeline project.

“um, I don't know, like Polish or, I guess Polish, uh, groups or whatever. They had all these different investigations that all led different directions. I know Jeremy S- I think Jeremy Scahill had one version of it, and then James Bamford, who I really respect…”

Referenced regarding his interpretation of the liberal rules-based international order.

“... which goes to show, I mean, this is the whole thing about when they talk about, you know, what, what H.W. Bush meant when he talked about the New World Order is the same thing that Joe Biden meant when he would say, "The liberal rules-based international o…”

His administration is linked to the conflict and criticized for its Russia policy.

“they know good and well that Ukraine is deeply divided, especially politically, on questions like whether they should join the NATO alliance or whether they'd rather be closer to Russia or try to split the difference and stay out of it or anything like that. A…”

Referenced for his past proposal to partition Iraq into three ethnic-based states.

“I, I have one good, uh, argument in your favor there for sure, which would be Senator Joe Biden at the time insisted that we break Iraq into three and create-”

Mentioned in the context of the 2015 Obama-era deal (JCPOA).

“Um, you have that refined yellowcake is refined uranium ore. Then you convert that to uranium hexafluoride gas, and that's the stuff that you inject into the centrifuges. Then you have what's called a cascade of centrifuges, a whole bunch of them all connected…”

Mentioned as a U.S. president who maintained the policy of not starting a war with Iran over their nuclear program.

“uh, the much better solution to that certainly would have been, we... I know we can't go back, but certainly would have been just normalizing relations with Iran and just dealing with them. The reality was Iran's position was not that they were racing to a nuk…”

Mentioned in the context of the 25th Amendment and presidential capacity.

“Like if they didn't do it with Biden.”

Criticized for allegedly backing extremist factions in Iran over a decade ago.

“Yep, and they'll talk about, you know, arming the Kurds and arming the Baluchis, which I don't know if there are other factions, but that seems to be a direct reference to groups like Jundallah, who the Obama and, the Obama administration and the Israelis both…”

The president under whom Lael Brainard served as vice chair and later head of the National Economic Council.

“Under President Joe Biden, Lael actually became Powell's vice chair, then left that role to head up Biden's National Economic Council. She, she moved on from being inside the Fed.”

Nominated Lisa Cook to the Fed board.

“Yeah. Last year, Trump attempted to fire the Biden-nominated Fed board member Lisa Cook for alleged mortgage fraud, which to many people seemed like an obviously spun-up excuse for a political attack on Cook.”

Mentioned as a past candidate and a reference point for the party's political landscape.

“And not, not just, uh, probably, uh, you know, from what I understand, not just don- uh, not just supporters and donors, but even some, uh, key staff. Uh, you know, look, um, I respect her, and, uh, she got thrust into a really difficult position. Um, but, uh,…”

Compared to Janet Mills as a standard for political effectiveness.

“... she's no Joe Biden.”

Discussed in the context of his administration's policies and the impact on Kamala Harris's political standing.

“I don't know what to make of it. I mean, she obviously is making noises as if she's gonna run. And, you know, um, uh, o- once you run for president, especially when you come as close as she did, especially under the circumstances she did, very hard to look aro…”

Dan Pfeiffer and David Axelrod discuss the impact of Pete Buttigieg's experience in the Biden administration on his future candidacy.

“[laughs] Well, look, um, in many... I, I, I've, I've said this before, he is as, um, bright and thoughtful as anybody I've w- I've, I've seen since Barack Obama in terms of his ability to sort of think in interesting ways and, uh, posit arguments in ways that …”

Mentioned as having a secret Venmo account that was uncovered by a BuzzFeed story.

“[laughs] Yeah. Also, you know, the p- uh, public by default Venmo transactions gave us many great stories over the years, including Joe Biden's secret Venmo, uh, which was a BuzzFeed story. Uh, JD Vance had a public Venmo that Wired reported on. Matt Gaetz's V…”

The AI safety agency was established under his administration.

“... is a great agency. Uh, great people over there. And I mean, honestly, like, they, they were just set up to do this exact thing, right? Like, when it was established under President Biden, the idea was these models are getting better. Pretty soon they're go…”

His previous executive order on AI was canceled by the Trump administration, only for them to consider similar measures later.

“Yes, and the reason that is notable, Kevin, is that on President Trump's first day in office in his second term, he canceled President Biden's executive order on AI, which among other things included this, a very similar kind of review process for new frontier…”

Former President credited with handing over a strong economy that was later wrecked.

“high during the first half of former President Biden's term as he was dealing with the catastrophic mess that the arsonist Donald Trump left him when Donald Trump left the country in complete and utter shambles, but the American people forgot about that. They …”

Mentioned alongside Trump as being too old to be entrusted with significant presidential responsibilities.

“Again, age gating. No one should be allowed to run for president [laughs] if, when elected, they're gonna be older than 70. Uh, or, or pick a number. Have, have neurologists decide. But at some point, nei- neither Biden nor Trump should be entrusted with overs…”