President Joe Biden gave his last sit-down interview as president

Biden says he’s ‘concerned about how fragile democracy is’: 4 things he said in his last interview as president

President Joe Biden attends the Department of Defense Commander in Chief farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
President Joe Biden attends the Department of Defense Commander in Chief farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Va. | Evan Vucci

On Thursday evening, President Joe Biden gave his last sit-down interview as president. The interview was conducted by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell in the Oval Office, and was aired late Thursday night on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”

The interview covered a variety of topics, from foreign policy to his economic strategy to how he felt after giving his farewell address on Wednesday.

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Biden is concerned about the fragility of democracy

“I really am concerned about how fragile democracy is,” the president said. “I really think we’re at an inflection point in history here.” Biden said that things are going to change drastically, that they are changing drastically, independent of any leader.

He also emphasized that one of his major concerns is abuse of power.

“I got involved in public life because of the abuse of power, my dad would say the greatest sin of all is the abuse of power,” Biden said.

In order to stop this abuse of power there are certain guardrails that are necessary to keep democracy on track, he said.

Biden says he did not speak with Trump about the hostage deal

O’Donnell asked Biden if he had spoken with President-elect Donald Trump about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal reached this week. Biden said he had not spoken to him about it recently.

The president said he did mention his plans for the deal to Trump when he met with him in December to ease the transition between administrations.

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‘If we don’t lead the world, who leads the world?’

Biden emphasized that in order for the United States to enact its foreign policy and be a leader in the world, it needs to be in a strong position domestically.

He said that if America wants to lead the world then it needs to step up and lead the world economically, through its infrastructure, its policies and other things.

America has the size, the scope, the ability and the technology to stand up and lead the world and it needs to do that, he said.

America shouldn’t have to get rid of jobs to lower inflation

Biden said that he tried to take a different approach to economics during his term in office, one where he focused on investing in America.

“Give the American people half a shot they’ll step up and get the job done if you give them the opportunity, and look what they did,” Biden said. “They stepped up.”

He said that he didn’t want to raise unemployment rates or risk a recession in order to grow the economy and lower inflation. According to the president inflation is down to 2% after his time in office, although this comes after a sustained period of high inflation.

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Deseret News

 

 

 

 

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