In her new memoir, former first lady Jill Biden reflects on former President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance against Donald Trump nearly two years ago and wonders whether it would have been better to acknowledge it rather than reassure supporters afterward.
The Democrat’s performance ultimately proved to be his undoing as he campaigned for reelection, amplifying concerns about whether the then-81-year-old could serve a second term. He ultimately dropped his bid under pressure from within his party and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who lost to the Republican Trump.
In “View from the East Wing,” a memoir about her White House years that’s being published next Tuesday, she said she still doesn’t know why her husband performed so disastrously that day.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book’s 274-page manuscript, which includes her first public comments about the debate and the ensuing chain of events that sent Joe Biden back to private life in Delaware sooner than he had envisioned.
The book also covers his prostate cancer diagnosis after leaving office and their son Hunter’s federal trial on gun charges, among other issues during Joe Biden’s term, along with how she juggled the added responsibilities of being first lady and her teaching career.
