Pod Save America Accuses Joe Biden of ‘Quiet Quitting’
The hosts of the political podcast dug into allegations the president has stepped back in his final weeks—and had to agree with them.
Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
The hosts of Pod Save America are wondering whether the oldest serving POTUS in history has taken a page out of Gen Z’s book.
Former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, and Jon Lovett sat down for Tuesday’s episode of their podcast to discuss what a recent Politico article is calling President Joe Biden’s conspicuous absence from discussions about how to prepare for, and weather, Donald Trump’s second stint in the White House.
Democratic insiders, Politico reported, “say that reticence is rooted in two factors: Biden’s own recognition that few are eager to hear from him, and his own lingering personal belief that he doesn’t owe much more to a party that unceremoniously pushed him aside.”
On Tuesday’s episode, Favreau asked his co-hosts: “I mean, like, I get the recognition that maybe people aren’t willing to hear from him, it’s understandable that he might think that, right. The party thing I hope is not true because… I don’t know, what do you guys think he could be doing?”
“Quiet quitting,” Vietor replied, to which Lovett swiftly added, “Yeah, that seems like what he’s doing.”
“I’m trying to, like, separate my frustration with basically Joe Biden in his final year and culminating [in] that debate and hanging on that, like, how much we paid for having somebody who just wasn’t an articulate and comprehensible messenger,” Vietor said.
Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau, and Dan Pfeiffer of Pod Save America.
FilmMagic for HBO/Getty Images
He then added, “I’m very angry about that and I’m a little bit mad at myself for not being more honest about how I felt or not seeing it as plainly because I think we’re obviously paying dearly for it.”
“It’s just odd that, you know, he talked about Donald Trump being an existential threat to democracy for so long. And I wasn’t necessarily critical when he met Donald Trump and smiled for the cameras, ’cause he clearly wants to prove and show that he believes in democracy and the peaceful transfer of power,” Vietor went on.
Reflecting on the small window of time Biden still has left in office, Vietor then added, “There’s all these things you could do that really would be historic and important. And when you’re unencumbered by politics, why not run through the tape?”
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