Jill Biden’s memoir revives painful memories as Democrats try to move on

{"text":[[{"start":10.5,"text":"Minutes after Joe Biden left the presidential debate stage in the summer of 2024, his wife, Jill Biden, led a crowd of supporters in a chant of “four more years.”"}],[{"start":21.85,"text":"“Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts,” the then First Lady said from the stage in Atlanta."}],[{"start":29.85,"text":"Two years later, Jill Biden is telling a very different story."}],[{"start":34.300000000000004,"text":"“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since,” the former First Lady told CBS News in a television interview set to air this weekend. “As I watched it, I thought: ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”"}],[{"start":51.900000000000006,"text":"Joe Biden’s halting debate performance against Donald Trump was the beginning of the end of his political career. A month later, he abandoned his re-election bid, plagued by persistent questions about his age and fitness for office. By November, Trump had handily defeated Biden’s vice-president Kamala Harris to secure another four years in the White House."}],[{"start":73.35000000000001,"text":"A year and a half after her husband left the White House, Jill Biden has returned to the political spotlight, embarking on a media tour to promote her memoir, View from the East Wing, which will be published by Simon & Schuster on Tuesday. "}],[{"start":86.9,"text":"But the former First Lady’s initial TV appearances, as well as leaked excerpts of the book, have raised uncomfortable questions for both the Bidens and the Democratic Party at a time when most national Democrats want to remain focused on November’s midterm elections, when they are hoping to retake control of both chambers of Congress from Trump and the Republicans."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":106.5,"text":"“The Bidens and their inner circle have made it incredibly challenging for Democrats in Congress and Democratic candidates, recruits and incumbents throughout the country to defend them,” said Michael LaRosa, a former press secretary to Jill Biden. He described the intraparty backlash to her book as “remarkably sharp, pointed and relentless.”"}],[{"start":127.35,"text":"“Many Democrats still feel frustrated, misled or resentful about how the final year unfolded and this book is exacerbating the tension,” LaRosa added."}],[{"start":135.65,"text":"Since the election, Democrats have grappled with what went wrong for the party and wrestled over how to best launch an effective opposition to Trump and the Republicans. "}],[{"start":144.85,"text":"The party has picked up some significant wins — notably the governor’s mansions in New Jersey and Virginia, and the New York City mayoralty last year — but nevertheless faces significant challenges if it is to rebuild trust with the electorate. A CNN poll conducted earlier this year found just 28 per cent of Americans had a favourable view of the Democratic Party. "}],[{"start":167.65,"text":"A divisive Democratic National Committee autopsy of the 2024 election, released earlier this month, largely blamed the Biden political operation for Harris’s loss to Trump."}],[{"start":178.15,"text":"Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh said it “never really works to rewrite history,” adding: “No one wants to look backwards, especially on this topic.”"}],[{"start":188.20000000000002,"text":"But Marsh insisted the latest swirl of media attention on the Bidens would not derail the Democratic Party’s prospects heading into November: “People have bigger problems on their mind, like the cost of living and the level of corruption [in the Trump administration].”"}],[{"start":204.3,"text":"There are signs that the Democrats are well positioned to rack up wins in November. Trump’s approval ratings have fallen sharply as the electorate sours on his handling of the US economy and the war in Iran, which has fuelled a surge in petrol prices. The latest RealClearPolitics average of the generic congressional ballot, which measures voting intentions for the midterms, gives Democrats a roughly 8-point advantage over Republicans."}],[{"start":231.95000000000002,"text":"Still, Jill Biden’s memoir has generated unpleasant headlines and prompted fresh hand-wringing for the party."}],[{"start":239.20000000000002,"text":"In leaked excerpts, the former First Lady elaborated on her husband’s disastrous debate performance, writing: “Is he short-circuiting? . . . Is this a stroke? It felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching. Has he been drugged?”"}],[{"start":255.70000000000002,"text":"According to excerpts published by the Associated Press, Jill Biden also wrote about how she disagreed with her husband’s initial insistence that he would not issue a presidential pardon to their scandal-ridden son, Hunter Biden, who had faced federal gun possession and tax evasion charges. "}],[{"start":271.85,"text":"“In the end, it felt like in working so hard to be impartial, we guaranteed that Hunter would meet the worst possible legal fate,” she wrote. “Joe might have gone too far, in my opinion, to show that his family was being treated with complete impartiality.”"}],[{"start":286.45000000000005,"text":"Joe Biden reversed course and, in a controversial move, pardoned his son in December 2024, weeks before he left the White House."}],[{"start":294.55000000000007,"text":"Not all Democrats see the latest Biden book as cause for concern, however."}],[{"start":299.3500000000001,"text":"Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic consultant who was chief strategist to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, described Jill Biden as a “popular First Lady” and said her memoir had the potential to help rather than hurt the party’s chances in November."}],[{"start":316.6000000000001,"text":"“Being reminded of a time when decent, kind people led this country is a good thing,” Begala said. “Any Dem worried about this book needs to fill their tank with gas and drive to the grocery store.”"}],[{"start":336.1000000000001,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780189954_1442.mp3"}