‘THE GREAT TRAGEDY’: Regime Media Mourn Biden’s Legacy

Jorge Bonilla
January 19th, 2025 9:52 PM

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As the sun sets on the Biden presidency, the Regime Media has turned their focus on his legacy. Across the dial, Sunday programming discussing his legacy turned mostly funereal.  

Tonally upbeat but nonetheless mournful, CBS’s Nancy Cordes tried to cobble together off a highlight reel of sorts in order to depict the Biden presidency as something other than catastrophic (click "expand" to view transcript):

CBS SUNDAY MORNING

1/19/24

9:16 AM

NANCY CORDES: In many ways, he did deliver. His administration oversaw the successful rollout of the covid vaccines, the stock market steadily rose to record highs, while unemployment fell to a near-record low. Overseas, he expanded NATO, strengthened alliances in Asia with the goal of containing China, and cobbled together lasting support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

JOE BIDEN: The duty of the president is to defend what is best about America. 

CORDES: He did so while racking up legislative victories, including massive new investments in clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing.

BIDEN: I believe to my core that there isn't a single thing this country cannot do when we put our mind to it.

CORDES: And scored a win that eluded his predecessors, signing a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Cordes’s upbeat presentation contrasted with discussion at ABC and NBC, which both used “tragedy” as a descriptor of the Biden legacy, preceded by discussion of the New York Times process piece on Chuck Schumer’s trek to Delaware to talk Biden into dropping out (click "expand" to view transcript): 

JON KARL: And you have some new reporting. I mean, Pelosi -- the Pelosi-Biden tension is not faded away one iota.

JONATHAN MARTIN: Just the opposite- in my column today I report that Joe and Jill Biden have not reached out to Nancy Pelosi since she fell in December and broke her hip in Europe, which is an extraordinary sort of silence from two people who are known for their personal decency and kindness. That’s sort of bigger than politics, and she's been a longtime ally and I spoke with one of Pelosi's daughters, Alexandra yesterday who referred to Jill Biden as Lady McBiden, and urged the First Lady to “put on your big girl pants and start thinking about your husband's legacy.”

KARL: Interesting. And how is that coming?

MARY BRUCE: Well, I was going to say, legacy certainly is going to be at the front of so many people's minds come tomorrow afternoon as they sit there and watch Donald Trump be sworn in. Certainly Joe Biden has been out there trying to define his own legacy, but you can't help but remember and think that when he dropped out of the race, he was doing it in part -he thought- to save his legacy, that he would be defined by how he put his party over his personal interests, paving the way for Kamala Harris to come in and drive his agenda forward, and now it's quite the opposite. Now you are seeing so many Democrats, and I think a lot of people in the country, and you have to wonder, you know, what Joe Biden and whether he is thinking this as well, you know, wondering whether his decision to drop out when he did, his decision to run again. Now that is going to define his legacy for the role that he played in Donald Trump's return to Washington.

KARL: And Democrats, I'm hearing and I'm sure you are, Rachel especially on The Hill, real frustration with Biden on the way out.

RACHEL SCOTT: Oh, absolutely.

KARL: I mean anger.

SCOTT: Yeah. Anger, frustration, I think, across the board. And a little bit, I think, this has to do with also how Vice President Kamala Harris ran her campaign as well. Frustration, fingerpointing, it is a blame game, but look. They are all confronted with the same reality. It is President-Elect Donald Trump who is going to be there on Inauguration Day taking the Oath, and he was elected by the people of the United States and they are trusting him to carry out his vision for the country.

MARTIN: It's the great tragedy…

BRUCE: And remember, Joe Biden still says that he thinks he could have defeated Trump. So this is something he's still very much actively wrestling with, whether he likes it or not. He still isn't ready to accept, it seems, the political reality.

KARL: All right, thank you all. We will be right back.

Over at NBC’s Meet the Press, the conversation ranged from a wrapup of Biden’s term to the “oligarchy” narrative, to Amna Nawaz wishcasting “shininess” for Bidne in the years to come. After the liberal media panelists got time to prattle on, former Trump official Mike Dubke got 15 seconds:

MIKE DUBKE: Look, Joe Biden was a tragedy in three parts. From his young years to the middle and the vice presidency and at the end. And he left the stage too late and at the end of the day that's what the Democrats are going to have to struggle with and deal with.

WELKER: That’s what history will be looking at for years and decades and centuries to come. Thank you for a fantastic conversation.

The Regime Media are preparing to snap back into Resistance Mode, but not before they hold their version of an Irish wake for Joe Biden. Would that they also held one for their own legacies, forever tarred by their abetting of this presidency.

Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective shows on Sunday, January 19th, 2024:

ABC THIS WEEK

1/19/25

9:53 AM

JON KARL: Joe Biden still in office. (The) New York Times had a couple of stories that I thought were very interesting about Biden, including this one. I think we have the graphic here of Schumer. “‘I'm Urging You Not to Run’: How Schumer Pushed Biden to Drop Out.” So I have to say, as I read that article, it made me think of something that we, you know, back in July on this network at the Republican convention, here's what I reported. 

KARL AT THE RNC: I am told that this was a one-on-one meeting, just the Senate leader and the president, and that Chuck Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic Party, and better for the country if he were to bow out of the race. 

KARL: Okay. Now when I reported that, Jonathan Martin…

JONATHAN MARTIN: Yes.

KARL: There was pushback from the Democratic leader's office saying it was idle speculation. Now it seems they're very eager to embrace what he did.

MARTIN: That's the difference between an unplanned leak and a planned leak, okay? Last year -- last summer, Chuck Schumer didn't want that leaking out in that fashion. Now this is about history and posterity, and Chuck Schumer wants the textbooks to record that when the moment came in the summer of 2024, he too was pushing out Joe Biden. You and I know it was much more Nancy Pelosi than it was Chuck Schumer, but he's playing for history now, Chuck is.

KARL: And you have some new reporting. I mean, Pelosi -- the Pelosi-Biden tension is not faded away one iota.

MARTIN: Just the opposite- in my column today I report that Joe and Jill Biden have not reached out to Nancy Pelosi since she fell in December and broke her hip in Europe, which is an extraordinary sort of silence from two people who are known for their personal decency and kindness. That’s sort of bigger than politics, and she's been a longtime ally and I spoke with one of Pelosi's daughters, Alexandra yesterday who referred to Jill Biden as Lady McBiden, and urged the First Lady to “put on your big girl pants and start thinking about your husband's legacy.”

KARL: Interesting. And how is that coming?

MARY BRUCE: Well, I was going to say, legacy certainly is going to be at the front of so many people's minds come tomorrow afternoon as they sit there and watch Donald Trump be sworn in. Certainly Joe Biden has been out there trying to define his own legacy, but you can't help but remember and think that when he dropped out of the race, he was doing it in part -he thought- to save his legacy, that he would be defined by how he put his party over his personal interests, paving the way for Kamala Harris to come in and drive his agenda forward, and now it's quite the opposite. Now you are seeing so many Democrats, and I think a lot of people in the country, and you have to wonder, you know, what Joe Biden and whether he is thinking this as well, you know, wondering whether his decision to drop out when he did, his decision to run again. Now that is going to define his legacy for the role that he played in Donald Trump's return to Washington.

KARL: And Democrats, I'm hearing and I'm sure you are, Rachel especially on The Hill, real frustration with Biden on the way out.

RACHEL SCOTT: Oh, absolutely.

KARL: I mean anger.

SCOTT: Yeah. Anger, frustration, I think, across the board. And a little bit, I think, this has to do with also how Vice President Kamala Harris ran her campaign as well. Frustration, fingerpointing, it is a blame game, but look. They are all confronted with the same reality. It is President-Elect Donald Trump who is going to be there on Inauguration Day taking the Oath, and he was elected by the people of the United States and they are trusting him to carry out his vision for the country.

MARTIN: It's the great tragedy…

BRUCE: And remember, Joe Biden still says that he thinks he could have defeated Trump. So this is something he's still very much actively wrestling with, whether he likes it or not. He still isn't ready to accept, it seems, the political reality.

KARL: All right, thank you all. We will be right back.

NBC MEET THE PRESS

1/19/24

11:09 AM

KRISTEN WELKER: And speaking of Democratic messaging, President Biden has been very focused on his own messaging. He's dealing with some real headwinds. Let's look at the headlines just from this week. “How Biden Destroyed His Legacy (The Atlantic).” “One of the great tragedies of American politics: Biden ends 5 decades in public life (NBC News).” “Biden's Presidential Legacy, An Era of Change Forever Marked by Trump (NYT).” How is he trying to write the first draft of his legacy, and you have new reporting on what we might see from him in the next 48 hours.

PETER ALEXANDER: Well of course, he came into office the first go-around as the president who defeated Donald Trump and, in the eyes of many of his supporters, protected democracy. Now he departs and the fatal flaw, perhaps, is that he has paved the way for Donald Trump's return to power. The thinking was he would be this transformational figure early on with some of these big legislative achievements he celebrated. He would be a transactional- transitional figure as well but, of course, the transition is back in the hands of Republicans. And I think that’s going to tarnish his legacy, certainly in the near term right now by choosing to run again and then waiting too long to decide to drop out. In terms of how he can still impact his legacy in these waning hours, even as we were speaking I was waiting for this conversation- had been told by White House officials yesterday there would be more pardons and commutations coming out today, as clockwork, they came out this morning. So he has the record of pardons and commutations but the ones to wait on are still the preemptive pardons. Will there be some for those that many in his circle and he included thinks could be targeted- the Liz Cheneys, the Adam Schiffs, the others, and I’m told the president is, quote: “considering this very seriously, even at this hour”, that if they happen they're likely to happen tomorrow morning just before he leaves office. There have been meetings in the last several days, even, with senior staff.

WELKER: Boy. That would be significant, Amna. What are you going to be watching for and what are the takeaways from what we heard from President Biden this week in that farewell address where he warned an oligarchy was taking root?

AMNA NAWAZ: I think it’s very in line for the president, right? He's someone who’s always looking ahead to the next thing. I think the warning of what's to come was sort of in line with what we’ve seen from him in 50 years of public service. I come back to this idea, paraphrasing Walt Whitman, that presidencies are like people- they contain multitudes. It’s very, very complicated. They tend to get shinier the more time goes on. So all of these things Peter mentioned- he came in at a time of chaos, led us through a pandemic, pushed through historic investments the fruits of which, I think, we'll be seeing in the future, as well. Pushed through the ceasefire deal. All of that’s part of his legacy. So, too, is this idea that 46,000 deaths of Palestinians are also part of his legacy. This idea that he questions around whether he should have run or not are also part of his legacy. It is very, very complicated. But I will say, if you can say anything about Joe Biden and tomorrow will mark the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr., is this idea of never losing infinite hope. 50 years of public service, the legacy will be written over time.

(CROSSTALK)

JEN PSAKI: I was going to say watching that speech on Thursday night it was not at all what I expected. I thought the first part of it was going to be largely talking about his legacy of legislative achievements and lists. That's- that’s often what you hear in his speeches. And what it marked to me- what the message was sent to me, he was saying to people at home- he rarely speaks directly to the public. That speech was voiced to the public. He was saying I am no longer here. I can't protect. No one is protecting you, American people. The Supreme Court is not protecting you, Congress is not protectioning you, the person sitting at this desk is not protectioning you. There's an oligarchy of rich people who are close to the guy who is going to sit here. It's up to you. You are the keepers of that. That is not a Joe Biden message, which I think- that is what was striking to me about this.

ALEXANDER: Can I just say, progressives wanted this to happen a lot sooner, right? They’re like, why is this the final speech right now? And ironically, the MAGA faithful tomorrow are going to be outside for the inauguration, all of the elites will be with him inside of the Capitol.

WELKER: Well, how’s that going to play? 15 seconds.

MIKE DUBKE: Look, Joe Biden was a tragedy in three parts. From his young years to the middle and the vice presidency and at the end. And he left the stage too late and at the end of the day that's what the Democrats are going to have to struggle with and deal with.

WELKER: That’s what history will be looking at for years and decades and centuries to come. Thank you for a fantastic conversation.

 

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