Biden reportedly reassuring allies he will run for reelection in 2024 at age 82
The panel on 'The Five' offer reaction and analysis
President Biden reportedly reassured political allies this week that he will indeed run for reelection in 2024, despite falling poll numbers, record inflation, an unfettered illegal immigration crisis and the prospect of another multi-trillion-dollar spending plan being passed.
Biden is likely continuing to claim he is running for reelection – at which point he will be 82 years old – because if he were to avoid the question, he risks being seen as a lame duck president less than a year into his term, the panel on "The Five" discussed Monday.
President Biden (center) speaks as former Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-LA, (left) listens at a meeting in Washington.
Co-host Jeanine Pirro said Biden's reported reassurance comes amid "open panic" among Democrats that his even-less-popular deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, would become the party's standard bearer if Biden decided not to run.
In response, co-host Dana Perino said Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg already appear to be in a subtle competition for that title, should Biden ultimately retire in three years.
"Let’s look at this question another way, which is why would they reassure people he’s going to run again," she said. "Because if they did not say that, he is a lame duck immediately. And we are three years from a primary."
Perino added that the 2024 race will be very different than 2020 because Biden and the eventual Republican nominee won't likely be waging a "basement campaign" amid a pandemic.
During the 2020 election, Biden held many of his campaign events through video conferences due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think they have to say that he is running because the alternative to them right now is really, really bad," she said. "You don’t want to be a lame duck."
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Later, co-host Jesse Watters said if Biden is truly planning to run for reelection, his bid may already be showing signs of potential problems in regards to his health and ability to communicate.
"I don't think he's going to be able to compete in a vigorous campaign," he said, adding that by 2024, Republicans could gain as much as a 60-seat majority given current Biden-Harris popularity polling. "Democrats are going to have to take stock … and then in the summer of 2023 just put this guy out-to-pasture and give someone else a chance."