Biden: ‘I Would Not Be Disappointed’ With a Trump Rematch in 2024

Biden landed in Israel on Wednesday, with plans to stay there for two days before moving on to Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle Eastern tour. While in Israel the American president will also be making an appearance in the occupied West Bank.

US President Joe Biden said in a recent interview that he is ready for a rematch against his predecessor Donald Trump if it comes to that in the 2024 election cycle.

“I’m not predicting. But I would not be disappointed,” Biden said in a pre-taped interview with Israel’s Channel 12. Biden defeated Trump with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 in the 2020 election.

While Biden believes he can defeat Trump again, he did say he hopes the Republican Party can distance itself from Trump and politicians touting similar antics.

“No, look, the one thing I know about politics and American politics in particular is there’s no way to predict what’s going to happen. I’m not even halfway through my term yet … but my hope is that the Republican Party moves back to a normal position that’s not this MAGA party it’s become in many ways,” Biden stated.

The interview aired on Israeli TV on Tuesday, one day before the president arrived in Israel to appear for photo-ops, receive a briefing on Israel’s Iron Dome and Iron Beam air defense systems and speak to both Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

It is expected Trump will make an announcement on his 2024 plans in the coming weeks as sources have detailed to The Hill that Trump is in the midst of internal discussions about a potential run. Previously, the former president said he would wait until after the November midterm elections before making an official decision.

Biden has consistently and vehemently stated he plans to run for reelection in 2024, despite whispers from prominent Democrats it might be best for the party to nominate another contender in his place.

A Wednesday Yahoo!/YouGov poll stated that just 18% of Americans want Biden to run for president in 2024. Even among his own party, support for the commander-in-chief is not very robust; the same poll said 41% of Democrats would prefer a different candidate to win the primary, compared to 35% who said they want Biden in 2024.

The latest poll does not appear to be an aberration, either. A Monday New York Times/Siena College poll was even worse for the president. It found that 64% of Democratic voters preferred the party pick a different candidate, while only 13% of all Americans think the country is on the right track.

One silver lining for the president is The Times/Siena poll did indicate Biden would narrowly beat Trump in a hypothetical matchup - 44% to 41% - though Trump has outperformed polls in the past, as he did when he upset former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election cycle. With the 2024 election still more than two years away, public sentiment is sure to change in that time, likely with whatever direction the economy goes in.

The Times/Siena poll found that more than two-thirds of respondents named the economy as “extremely important” to them, but only 1% rated the economy as excellent.

Besides the 2024 election, Biden also stressed in the Channel 12 interview that the United States will continue to support Israel, regardless of who is in charge of the country. Israel’s governing coalition disbanded in June. Naftali Bennett replaced Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister in June 2021, but the coalition fractured and new elections are expected to take place in October.