Biden predicts Trump "won't" accept results of election
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President Biden speaks during an event at Gateway Technical College's iMet Center on May 8 in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
President Biden said that he does not believe former President Trump will accept the results of the 2024 presidential election during an interview with CNN that aired Wednesday.
Why it matters: The Biden campaign is presenting Trump as a fundamental threat to the nation and warning that a second Trump term would be a danger to democracy.
Driving the news: In the interview, CNN's Erin Burnett quoted Trump's comments to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that were published last week, saying "If everything's honest, I'll gladly accept the results. "If it's not, you have to fight for the right of the country."
- "I promise you he won't," Biden said of Trump accepting 2024 election results. "He won't, which is dangerous."
Zoom in: Biden defiantly defended his economic record during the interview, even as many Democrats have been pushing Biden to talk more about what he would do in a second term rather than try to get credit for what he has already done.
- "When I started this administration, people were saying there's going to be a collapse in the economy," Biden said.
- He added: "We have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again: in the world."
- "The idea that we're in a situation where things are so bad that folks – I mean, we've created more jobs. We're in a situation where people have access to good paying jobs," Biden said.
State of play: Biden has struggled to convince voters that the economy is strong, as polling shows that most voters trust Trump more to handle the economy.
- The campaign is seeking to push back against what advisers call "Trump amnesia," the idea that some voters give the former president more credit for the economy than is due, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.
Between the lines: Biden was most defensive when talking about his campaign against Trump.
- "He's never succeeded in creating jobs, and I've never failed," Biden said of Trump.
- Asked about polls consistently showing voters trust Trump more on the economy, Biden disputed the numbers.
- "The polling data has been wrong all along," he said. "You guys do a poll, CNN, how many folks you have to call to get one response."
Zoom out: Biden, when speaking about the November election, said that he is "feeling good about the trajectory of the campaign."
- "You know as well I do, most people don't really focus and make up their minds until the fall. There's a lot going on, and we'll see what happens."
The other side: A spokesperson for Trump's campaign criticized Biden's answer, saying: "If you take a look at what President Trump actually said, Biden is actually blatantly misrepresenting the truth."
Go deeper: Biden: If Israel invades Rafah, "I'm not supplying the weapons"
