Was Biden happy to see Trump win?

The headline could be seen as a ridiculous question – but there is reason for such speculation.

Uber influencer Joe Rogan believes President Biden was secretly rooting for Trump.  He even believes that Biden voted for Trump.

During a podcast, Rogan said that the meeting between Biden and Trump supported his belief – especially the smiling Biden in the photo above.  Rogan said, “I never saw that dude so happy in his f—ing life. He lost. His party lost. He was happy.”

Rogan went on to say, “Biden voted for Trump. I guarantee it. I f—ing guarantee it.” Of course, there is no way for Rogan to know that, but his emphatic opinion reflects the depth of his belief.

One must admit that the meeting between Biden and Trump was surprisingly cordial. So much so that several never-Trumpers in the Democratic Party expressed their displeasure with Biden for both hosting Trump and then expressing his congratulations in such a friendly manner – for normalizing him.  And Rogan was not wrong about one thing.  Biden did seem in an unusually good mood during their public meeting.

Prior to the meeting with Trump, Biden had put the lie to the Harris narrative that Trump was a fascist authoritarian who would bring about an end to American democracy.  In his post-election address, Biden assured the American people that “we’re going to be okay.”

There have been news reports that Biden is harboring a bitter anger at those who forced him out.  His relationship with former House Speake Pelosi is said to be “strained.”  It is said that Biden regrets stepping down.  He believes that not only would he have beaten Trump, but that he was the only one who could.  That was the stated reason why he chose to run for a second term after initially promising to be a one-term “transitional” President.

However, the speculation over Biden’s true feelings is not just based on Rogan’s opinion. There are other tea leaves to be read.  Even as the campaign was in full swing, pundits were questioning Biden’s minimal participation.  Did he hold back or did Team Harris not want him involved in view of his unpopularity?  Or did Biden’s physical and mental condition play a role?

There were times Biden did seem to be out of sync with the Harris campaign.  He held high visibility events in conflict with some of Harris’ major campaign events.  The most notable example was when he took some of the wind out of Harris’ major campaign wrap-up rally by addressing the nation and referring to Trump supporters as garbage.  The speech, itself, and the comment about GOP voters both tended to undermine the Harris event.  Intentional?  Biden and his people are politically savvy, so why would he do that?

Then there is the long recognized fact of the ongoing friction between Team Biden and Team Harris throughout the presidency.  And some of that has again manifested itself since the election.

It is all armchair speculation.  It is not likely that we will ever know Biden’s true feelings – if he secretly wanted Harris to lose.  But it is fair to wonder why IS that man laughing.

So, there ‘tis.