Biden After the Midterms: Making Sure Trump 'Does Not Become the Next President Again' (November 9, 2022)

The day after the 2022 midterm elections, a reporter asked President Joe Biden how he could reassure America’s allies that Donald Trump would not come back. Biden cut in, to laughter, and then answered: “Well, we just have to demonstrate that he will not take power by—if we—if he does run; on making sure he, under the legitimate efforts of our Constitution, does not become the next President again” [1].

Two years later, Trump was elected the next president [4].

The video above shows the exchange from Biden’s Nov. 9, 2022, news conference at the White House. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”For How Long?”

The question grew out of a story Biden liked to tell. He recalled his first meeting with the leaders of the Group of Seven democracies after taking office. “I sat down at a table—a roundtable with the six other world leaders,” he said, “and said, ‘America is back.’ And one of them turned to me and said: ‘For how long? For how long?’ It was a deadly earnest question” [1].

Biden said another leader asked how he would react if a mob stormed Britain’s Parliament to stop the confirmation of an election, a reference to Jan. 6. “Nothing like this has happened since the Civil War. I don’t want to exaggerate. But literally, nothing like this has happened since the Civil War,” Biden said [1].

”Oh, Yes?”

The reporter followed up. “So the entire genesis of that G-7 conversation was tied to your predecessor, who is about to launch another campaign. So how do you reassure them, if that is the reason for their questioning, that the former President will not return or that his political movement, which is still very strong, will not——” [1]

“Oh, yes?” Biden interjected, to laughter [1].

“——once again take power in the United States?” the reporter finished. Biden’s answer was the line about making sure Trump “does not become the next President again” [1].

”Nothing”

Earlier in the news conference, a reporter pointed to the public mood. “You mentioned that Americans are frustrated. And, in fact, 75 percent of voters say the country is heading in the wrong direction, despite the results of last night. What in the next 2 years do you intend to do differently to change people’s opinion of the direction of the country, particularly as you contemplate a run for President in 2024?” [1]

“Nothing, because they’re just finding out what we’re doing,” Biden answered. “The more they know about what we’re doing, the more support there is” [1].

He argued that his big bills simply had not kicked in yet. “I think that the problem is, the major pieces of legislation we passed—and some of it bipartisan—takes time to be recognized,” he said. “For example, you’ve got over a trillion dollars’ worth of infrastructure money, but not that many spades have been put in the ground. It’s taking time” [1].

Another reporter later came back to it: “You said you don’t need to do anything differently. If Republicans control the House, don’t you need to recalibrate, to some extent, to try to work across the aisle with a Republican-led House?” [1]

“Super-Mega-MAGA Republicans”

Asked whether the election had broken the political “fever,” Biden drew a line inside the GOP. “Well, I’m not—I don’t think we’re going to break the fever for the super-mega-MAGA Republicans,” he said. “But I think they’re a minority of the Republican Party. I think the vast majority of the members of the Republican Party, we disagree strongly on issues, but they’re decent, honorable people” [1].

”Our Intention Is to Run Again”

Reuters reporter Steve Holland asked whether the results made a second term more likely. “All kidding aside, our intention is to run again,” Biden said. “That’s been our intention, regardless of what the outcome of this election was” [1].

He hedged in the next breath. “But I’m a great respecter of fate. And this is, ultimately, a family decision,” he said, adding that he did not “feel in any hurry one way or another” to decide, “no matter what the—my predecessor does.” His guess was that the decision would come “early next year” [1].

He also boasted about the midterms, saying “the Democratic Party outperformed anything anyone expected and did better than any off-year Presidency since John Kennedy” [1]. Republicans still took the House, 222 seats to 213 [2].

”Worthy of Being Looked At”

A reporter asked about the new owner of Twitter. “Mr. President, do you think Elon Musk is a threat to U.S. national security? And should the U.S.—and with the tools you have—investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter with foreign governments, which include the Saudis?” [1]

“I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at. Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth being looked at,” Biden said. Asked how, he said: “There’s a lot of ways.” [1]

The next day, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was asked what Biden meant. “Well, you heard the President yesterday, and the CFIUS process is the normal process through which transactions that might have a national security nexus get reviewed. And I will defer to the CFIUS process rather than comment on it further from this podium,” he said [7].

Another reporter pressed Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “What did he mean — what does that mean when the President says ‘worthy of being looked into’? It’s raising some questions.” She answered: “So the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, just answered that question. I’m just not going to go beyond that.” [7]

For Musk telling voters to back a Republican Congress two days before the election, see HYGO News’ page on Nov. 7, 2022.

By the Numbers

75%: voters who said the country was on the wrong track, as a reporter cited them [1].
222-213: the Republican House majority voters elected in 2022 [2].
6 days: the time between Biden’s answer and Trump’s announcement that he was running again [1][3].
312: electoral votes Trump won in 2024 [4].
226: electoral votes for Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden on the ticket [4].

What Happened Next

Trump ran. On Nov. 15, 2022, six days after Biden’s news conference, Trump announced his 2024 campaign [3].

Biden quit. On July 21, 2024, Biden announced he would not seek reelection after all [5], as HYGO News reported in its page on the polls that warned Democrats.

Trump won. Trump and JD Vance defeated Harris and Tim Walz, 312 electoral votes to 226 [4]. On Jan. 20, 2025, Trump took the oath again. “The golden age of America begins right now,” he said in his inaugural address [6].

For Biden’s other headline from the same news conference, his brush-off of the coming House investigations of his son, see HYGO News’ page on “lots of luck in your senior year”.