Washington:

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that no party in the Middle East should undermine efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that he claimed was now in sight, but he warned that it was “far from over.”

KEY QUOTES

“No one in the region should take actions to undermine this process,” Biden wrote on social media.

He later told reporters he was optimistic about prospects for a ceasefire.

“As of an hour ago, it’s still in play. I’m optimistic. It’s far from over,” he said on Friday night. “There’s a couple more issues. I think we’ve got a shot,” he added, without elaborating.

Asked when a ceasefire deal would start if a deal is reached, Biden said: “That remains to be seen.”

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Israel has insisted that peace will only be possible if Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is destroyed, while Hamas has said it will only accept a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary one.

Ceasefire talks in Doha paused on Friday with negotiators to meet again next week. In a joint statement, the US, Qatar and Egypt said Washington presented a new proposal. Washington, Israel’s most important ally, says a ceasefire will reduce the rising threat of the widening of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Biden originally had laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31, but mediators have run into repeated obstacles.

CONTEXT

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and has displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Where does the Indian diaspora stand on Kamala v Usha, and is Desi heritage now a fixture in U.S. politics?

Feisty messages coming in from the Harris and Trump campaigns in the U.S. in those latest ads.

Less than a month since U.S. President Joseph Biden bowed out of the Presidential race- and we had spoken about the possibilities in WorldView on June 19, just 2 days before he withdrew his nomination- the U.S. elections race has dramatically changed.

The tables have turned former President Donald Trump with Polls showing the new Democratic choice Kamala Harris doing better than Trump in many national polls, and an edge in some key states, but it’s stick neck and neck. As the campaign now enters a crucial phase, and what are some of the key factors that you should watch out for as you follow the very complex U.S. Presidential process?

Here are some of the dates to watch out for:

 August 19-22: Next week, Democratic National Convention in Chicago- will formally nominate Harris-Walz- Biden will speak on the 19th and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are all due to speak as well

September 10: Trump and Harris will hold their first debate- remember Harris was nominated Vice President in 2020, and hence has not really had to debate since the Primaries that year- so it will be crucial to watch how they fair in this one.

October 1: Walz- Vance debate

There will be one more Harris-Trump debate in October before

November 5: Election Day

Where are the polls today?

Real Clear Polling- that shows you that in 3 weeks, Harris came up from behind Trump – where Biden was, and since August 5 has been ahead of Trump by a percentage point or so- remember the margin of errors are always about 3-5% so these could easily be reversed in reality. But the trend of the polls seems clear- More blue than red, more in favour of Harris than Trump

So how significant is the Desi vote in the U.S.- do Indian-Americans make up a significant voting bloc.

-Indian Americans make up only 1.5% of the U.S. Population

-Yet they are a prominent community in public life

According to one list at present

There are 6 Indian Americans in Congress

– About 175 in the U.S. government Biden administration

– And about 100 others in various prominent positions in the government, as governors, mayors and judges across the country

 They are also amongst the most educated and per capita highest income diaspora communities- which means they are influential political donors

According to the Indiaspora group that released a report this week, about 65% Indian-Americans vote Democrat while the rest vote Republican. In 2020 it was 72% Democrat

While both Kamala Harris and Trump vice presidential running mate JD Vance’s wife Usha Vance each have atleast one parent born in India, neither put too much stress on their Indian-American origins at present- for different reasons, but identity did come centrestage last week

Trump’s comments caused a stir, and some pushback from bi-racial and African american activists

Vance said he was targeted by Trump’s far right supporters for not being white, but loved her anyway

While Harris has yet to say much one way or another publicly on her Indian identity this time around she called herself the first VP of African American and South Asian descent in 2020. Remember she has thus far not sat down to one interview with a journalist or a press conference since announcing her campaign- so maybe that’s what to watch out for

WV Take: The fact that both the Democrat and Republican candidates have Indian diaspora connections says a lot about the prominence of the Indian-American community, and particularly the emergence of Indian-American women, which is a credit to the diaspora everywhere, and will make the Indian-American vote in November more closely watched. As we have said here before, having a diaspora leader in positions of power in any country is a matter of pride for Indians- but don’t expect it to impact bilateral foreign relations that are based on interests more than personal identities.

 WV Book Recommendations

Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman by Chidanand Rajghatta

Kamala Harris: The American Story that Began on India’s Shores- by Kamala Harris and Hansa Makhijani

The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment by Julian E. Zelizer

Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis by JD Vance

The Road to the White House 2024: The Politics of Presidential Elections by Stephen Wayne

What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer

Script and Presentation: Suhasini Haidar

Production: Gayatri Menon and Shibu Narayan

“Why harp on the facts, it’s the exaggerations that makes a tale interesting!” A favourite aunt once exclaimed when I tried to fact-check a funny family story she was narrating to a huge, giggling audience two decades ago. Each member of my clan cheered her on and it was the start of a delightful evening.

Donald Trump’s interview with Elon Musk sent me back in time as I waded through the conversation. Both Trump and Musk know the importance of exaggerations in any narrative. The Indic epic poets knew it. Herodotus knew it. And so did Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. Trump’s exaggerations, ably supported by his interviewer, made for a good story for his supporters. All 60 million of them he thought were tuned into the live broadcast. This number is an exaggeration, too.

A Risk Worth Taking

But why does Trump exaggerate all the time despite a bevvy of fact-checkers waiting to give each syllable uttered by him a hang-draw-quarter treatment? Political storytelling is assessed under different rubrics than literary texts. Is this a risk worth taking? The answer is a resounding yes. 

Trump capitalises on narcissism when he indulges in making outlandish claims. To understand this link better, let’s look at what the experts have to say about narcissism. “For the narcissistically involved person, there is only one reality: that of his own thought processes, feelings and needs. The world outside is not experienced or perceived objectively, i.e., as existing in its own terms, conditions and needs,” Erich Fromm proposed in the 1950s.  Fromm also posited that narcissists have a stronger sense of entitlement. This lays bare the reasons behind Trump’s constant resort to exaggerations.

Narcissism And Politics

All politicians are narcissistic in some measure; this trait allows them to, first, enter politics, and then stay in it. Narcissism, however, has a highly specialised function for certain political ideologies. The interlinkages of narcissism with the sense of entitlement are important to understand while analysing why Trump’s narcissism works for him politically. A study conducted by political scientists Peter K. Hatemi and Zoltân Fazekas found that “In the 2016 election, higher entitlement reflected the mood of the general public, certainly among the working class, which voted Republican in greater numbers”. Hatemi and Fazekas propose that narcissism may have a role to play in the rise of populist politics. Trump’s constituents and those curious about him are offered a blanket of familiarity.

In simple terms, Trump’s worldview, presented with an exaggerated sense of self-importance and confidence, wins people over. People who are ever so anxious about their entitlements being eroded. And this is why statements like the following work: “Our crime rate’s going through the roof.” Who cares whether the FBI’s reports show a consistent decline in crime levels since 2020, his last presidential year? Add to it a provocative claim about Kamala Harris, “She wants to release all the prisoners that are in detention, and some of these guys are really bad. That just came out today” and you have successfully created a sense of impending doom.

Trump, The Rescuer

Trump is relying on honest Americans to believe that their entitlements are being eaten away by outsiders. Thus, he makes exaggerated claims like, “You have millions of people coming in a month” and “I believe it’s over 20 million people came into our country” about illegal immigrants. He wants people to believe that they are living under extraordinary circumstances by saying, “I think we have the worst inflation we’ve had in 100 years. They say it’s 48 years, I don’t believe it”. Shrinking entitlements being further nibbled on by outsiders-which one of us, narcissist or not, would find that desirable?

People need to despair for the narcissist to, then, brandishing his exaggerated belief in self, come in for the rescue. Trump wants people to believe that he, and only he, can solve these crises. Just the way only he could “solve” the Iran and China crises for the United States. “Iran was broke because I told China, ‘If you buy from Iran…’ Oil, it’s all about the oil, that’s where the money is. ‘…If you buy oil from Iran, you’re not going to do any business with the United States.’ And I meant it, and they said, ‘We’ll pass,’ and they didn’t buy oil.” America can be made great again only when it is unequivocally established that it is in ruins. And it can be made great again only by Trump.

Trump’s conversation with Musk, therefore, needs to be seen not as a “rambling” one which has significantly undermined his presidential prospects but as a tested strategy aimed at his constituents and swing voters. Whether it will fetch him a repeat of the 2016 outcome remains to be seen. 
Till then, let’s get lost in the meandering world of storytelling. 

(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based author and academic.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris finish speaking about their administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs during an event at Prince George’s Community College in Largo on August 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Stephanie AP

Joe Biden shared a key economic victory with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Thursday (August 15, 2024), after securing a cut on drug prices that could resonate with U.S. voters worried about the cost of living.

The 81-year-old president and 59-year-old vice president announced the deal as they prepared to make their first joint trip since Mr. Biden’s seismic decision to drop out of the presidential election less than a month ago.

The “historic” agreement with drugmakers will reduce the price of 10 key medicines for seniors, for conditions including diabetes, heart failure and blood clots, they said in joint statements released by the White House.

The deal will save older Americans $1.5 billion and the Medicare federal health insurance scheme $6 billion in the first year, the statements added.

While the deal was Mr. Biden’s brainchild, he appears to have chosen to share the credit with Ms. Harris as she ramps up her battle with Republican Donald Trump ahead of November’s election.

Ms. Harris has already made bringing down high prices a key plank of her election campaign and will hope the announcement on medicines will win over voters who have long been struggling with inflation.

U.S. residents face the highest prescription drug prices in the world, leaving many people to pay partly out of their own pocket, despite already exorbitant insurance premiums.

The pair will hail the drug price deal at an event in Maryland — their first outing together in the aftermath of Mr. Biden’s withdrawal from the election following a disastrous debate with Trump.

Mr. Biden highlighted Ms. Harris’s role, saying the “historic milestone” was only possible because the post-COVID Inflation Reduction Act was passed by Congress after his vice president cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

Ms. Harris added in her statement: “President Biden and I will never stop fighting for the health, wellbeing, and financial stability of the American people.”

‘Break with Biden’

It comes a day before Ms. Harris is due to set out her own economic agenda in a speech on Friday, and ahead of her star turn at the Democratic National Convention next week.

The United States’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president has already breathed new life into the Democratic Party after the trauma of Mr. Biden’s departure.

But while she has wiped out Trump’s lead in the opinion polls and drawn huge crowds to her rallies, she has yet to spell out her policies beyond broad brush strokes.

That includes largely adopting Mr. Biden’s economic agenda so far, including his vows to eradicate “junk fees” and bring down housing costs.

Ms. Harris is also trying to keep some distance from Mr. Biden’s policies and set out her own stall.

The news outlet Axios reported on Wednesday that Ms. Harris wants to “break with Mr. Biden on issues on which he’s unpopular,” with rising prices being top of the list.

Inflation has dogged Mr. Biden’s presidency, with many voters rating him poorly on the economy despite otherwise good numbers for jobs and growth.

Conversely, more people now trust the vice president to handle the economy than Trump, at 42% to 41%, according to a Financial Times and University of Michigan poll.

Before she took the reins, Mr. Biden was at 35%, while Trump’s number is unchanged.

Trump will try to steal their thunder as he holds a press conference shortly after the event.

The Republican former president, who survived an assassination attempt on July 13, has so far struggled to deal with an upended election campaign after the Democratic Party’s candidate switch.

Trump gave a speech that was meant to focus on the economy on Wednesday — but ended up veering off into personal insults, calling Ms. Harris a “crazy person,” Mr. Biden “stupid” and Ms. Harris’s running mate Tim Walz a “clown.”

Washington:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and discussed the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, Axios reported, citing two US sources.

One source told Axios that Trump’s call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal, but stressed he did not know if this was indeed what the former president told Netanyahu. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Late last month, Netanyahu visited the US and met President Joe Biden, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican former President Trump.

Egypt, the United States and Qatar have scheduled a new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations for Thursday.

Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have run into repeated obstacles.

Hamas said on Wednesday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday in Qatar, but an official briefed on the talks said mediators expected to consult with the Palestinian Islamist group afterwards.

Washington, Israel’s most important ally, has said that a ceasefire in Gaza will reduce the rising threat of a wider war in the Middle East.

There has been an increased risk of a broader war after the recent killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Both drew threats of retaliation against Israel.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Google on Tuesday confirmed that hackers backed by Iran are targeting the campaigns of US presidential rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

A hacker group known as “APT42” linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps went after high-profile individuals and organizations in Israel and the United States, including government officials and political campaigns, according to a threat report released by Google.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s campaign said Tuesday it had been targeted by foreign hackers, days after rival Donald Trump’s campaign suggested that it had been hacked by Iran.

“In July, the campaign legal and security teams were notified by the FBI that we were targeted by a foreign actor influence operation,” a Harris campaign official told AFP.

“We have robust cybersecurity measures in place and are not aware of any security breaches of our systems resulting from those efforts.” 

Google’s threat analysis group continues to see unsuccessful attempts from APT42 to compromise personal accounts of individuals affiliated with President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris and Trump, the report said.

– Phishing –
The hacking group works by gleaning information about targets and tailoring “phishing” efforts to dupe victims into revealing log-in information for accounts like Gmail.

Examples given in the report included posing as a think tank or other credible contact to lure victims to fake video meeting landing pages, where log-in credentials are needed to take part.

While technical tools abound in hacker arsenals, some opt for “social engineering” tactics that trick people into clicking on booby-trapped links or logging in to realistic replicas of legitimate web pages.

Google said it disrupted APT42 attempts to hack the campaigns of Biden and Trump in 2020.

In May and June of this year, the Iranian hacker group’s targets included personal email accounts of about a dozen people affiliated with Biden or Trump and Google blocked numerous attempts by APT42 to log in to their accounts, according to the report.

Google also reported that the group got into the personal Gmail account of an influencial political consultant.

“APT42 is a sophisticated, persistent threat actor and they show no signs of stopping their attempts to target users and deploy novel tactics,” Google said.

“This spring and summer, they have shown the ability to run numerous simultaneous phishing campaigns, particularly focused on Israel and the United States.”

Google urged high-risk individuals associated with the coming election to remain vigilant and to take advantage of ramped-up defenses offered by the internet firm. 

The US State Department warned Iran on Monday of consequences over election interference following the Trump campaign’s announcement that it had been hacked.

The Trump campaign has suggested that Iran was behind the breach, which resulted in private documents being sent to reporters, including research the campaign used to vet running mate J.D. Vance.

It warned media outlets against reprinting the documents, saying that such action would be “doing the bidding of America’s enemies.”

The tone was different from 2016, when Trump said at a news conference that he hoped Russia would “find” Hillary Clinton’s emails, remarks widely viewed as encouraging further hacks of his election opponent.

US intelligence concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to support Trump, who has rejected the findings.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Supporters at a campaign rally hosted by U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Waltz at University of Las Vegas Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on August 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Whatever possessed Vice-President Kamala Harris to pick Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, it probably wasn’t a desire to inflame arguments about apostrophes. But it doesn’t take much to get grammar nerds fired up.

“The lower the stakes, the bigger the fight,” said Ron Woloshun, a creative director and digital marketer in California who jumped into the fray on social media less than an hour after Ms. Harris selected Mr. Walz last week to offer his take on possessive proper nouns.

The Associated Press Stylebook says “use only an apostrophe” for singular proper names ending in S: Dickens’ novels, Hercules’ labors, Jesus’ life. But not everyone agrees.

Debate about possessive proper names ending in S started soon after President Joe Biden cleared the way for Ms. Harris to run. Is it Harris’ or Harris’s? But the selection of Mr. Walz with his sounds-like-an-s surname really ramped it up, said Benjamin Dreyer, the retired copy chief at Random House and author of Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.

Mr. Dreyer was inundated with questions within minutes of the announcement, which came while he was at the dentist.

“I was like, ‘All right, everybody just has to chill. I’ll be home in a little while and I can get to my desk,’” he said.

While there is widespread agreement that Walz’s is correct, confusion persists about Harris’ vs. Harris’s. Dreyer’s verdict? Add the ’s.

“To set the ’s is just simpler, and then you can take your valuable brain cells and apply them to more important things,” he said.

Mr. Woloshun chimed in with a similar opinion on X, where apostrophes are being thrown around like hand grenades. “The rule is simple: If you say the S, spell the S,” he argued.

That puts them on the same side as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal — and at odds with AP.

While AP style has evolved on many fronts over the years, there are no immediate plans to change the guidance on possessives, said Amanda Barrett, AP’s vice-president for news standards and inclusion.

“This is a longstanding policy for the AP. It has served us well, and we’ve not seen any real need to change,” she said. “We do know that the conversation is out there and people make different choices when it comes to grammar, and that’s all fine. Everyone makes a choice that works best for them.”

Timothy Pulju, a senior lecturer in linguistics at Dartmouth College, said that until the 17th or 18th century, the possessive of proper names ending in S — such as Jesus or Moses — often was simply the name itself with no apostrophe or additional S. Eventually, the apostrophe was added (Jesus’ or Moses’) to denote possession, though the pronunciation remained the same.

“That became kind of the standard that I was taught and adhere to, even though in retrospect, I don’t think it’s a great standard,” he said.

That’s because linguists view writing as a representation of speech, and speech has changed since then. Mr. Pulju said he expects the ’s form to become dominant eventually. But for now, he — along with the Merriam-Webster dictionary — says either way is acceptable.

“As long as people are communicating successfully, we say language is doing what it’s supposed to be doing,” he said. “If you can read it whichever way it’s written, then it seems like it’s working for people. They’re not getting confused about whose running mate Tim Walz is.”

If she wins in November, Ms. Harris would become the fourth U.S. President with a last name ending in S and the first since Rutherford B. Hayes, who was elected in 1876 — 130 years before the founding of Twitter — and was spared the social media frenzy over apostrophes. Ms. Harris is the first nominee with such a tricky last name since 1988, when Democrat Michael Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush.

Mr. Dukakis, now 90, said in a phone interview on Monday (August 12, 2024) that he doesn’t recall any similar discussion when he was the nominee. But he agrees with the AP.

“It sounds to me like it would be s, apostrophe, and that’s it,” he said.

The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has yet to take a clear position. A press release issued on Monday (August 12, 2024) by her New Hampshire team touted “Harris’s positive vision,” a day after her national press office wrote about “Harris’ seventh trip to Nevada.”

Washington:

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s campaign said Tuesday it had been targeted by foreign hackers, days after rival Donald Trump’s campaign suggested that it had been hacked by Iran.

“In July, the campaign legal and security teams were notified by the FBI that we were targeted by a foreign actor influence operation,” a Harris campaign official told AFP.

“We have robust cybersecurity measures in place, and are not aware of any security breaches of our systems resulting from those efforts.” 

The campaign did not give any indication of which foreign power was believed to be behind the attempt but said it remained in contact with law enforcement agencies.

The US State Department warned Iran on Monday of consequences over election interference following the Trump campaign’s announcement that it had been hacked.

The Trump campaign suggested on Saturday that Iran was behind the breach in which documents including research they used to vet running mate J.D. Vance were sent to reporters.

It warned media outlets against reprinting the documents, saying that such action would be “doing the bidding of America’s enemies.”

The tone was different to 2016, when Trump said at a news conference that he hoped Russia would “find” Hillary Clinton’s emails, remarks widely viewed as encouraging further hacks of his election opponent.

US intelligence concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to support Trump, who has rejected the findings.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former United States President Donald Trump was interviewed by billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) today. The interview had a rocky start and was delayed by 40 minutes after the Tesla Chief announced that there was a cyber attack on his social media platform. The two businessmen discussed a variety of topics ahead of US polls including immigration, layoffs, the assassination attempt on Mr Trump and climate change. Amid this, Mr Musk has now invited US Vice President Kamala Harris for a chat on X Spaces.

He took to the microblogging platform and wrote, “Happy to host Kamala on an X Spaces too.”

Happy to host Kamala on an Spaces too

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024

Since being shared, his post has amassed a variety of reactions online.

The Trump campaign reacted to the post with a folded hands emoji.

A person joked, “Same chance of her agreeing to come on as me meeting Abraham Lincoln tomorrow morning.”

“It would be really smart of her to do this. Significantly simpler logistics than doing a rally, with a far larger potential impact. I’m sure you’d be a fair interviewer,” said a person.

A user stated, “Free Speech! @VP should 100% do this. The American people deserve to hear your thoughts on the issues!”

Meanwhile, the Republican candidate slammed Ms Harris and said, “The number of illegals Kamala (Harris) has welcomed into our communities is much bigger than we think.” He told Elon Musk, “Countries are emptying their prisons – and sending them to our country. They’re bringing crime and violence to our backyards,” he said.

In a separate comment, he also said that the country “will go out of business,” if she wins US elections 2024. “We don’t have a president right now – and Kamala is even worse. She’s a San Francisco liberal who destroyed that city, destroyed California, and will destroy our country if she’s elected,” Donald Trump said.

Reacting to the same, Ms Harris’ presidential campaign issued a statement on X. They said, “Donald Trump’s extremism and dangerous Project 2025 agenda is a feature not a glitch of his campaign, which was on full display for those unlucky enough to listen in tonight during whatever that was on X.com.”

They added, “Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself – self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”

US President Joe Biden last month announced his exit from the 2024 presidential race amid growing concerns over his health and a disastrous debate performance against rival Donald Trump.

After initially insisting he would stay in the race, the 81-year-old on July 21 announced his decision to step aside in a social media post while recovering from COVID-19 at his Delaware beach house.

Now, in an interview, Biden has shared his reasons for not seeking re-election. 

“When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president,” he said in an interview with CBS. “I can’t even say how old I am – it’s hard for me to get it out of my mouth.”

He also stated the importance of defeating Trump, the Republican nominee.

“Although it’s a great honour to be a president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I — most important thing you can do. And that is — we must, we must, we must defeat Trump,” he said. 

This interview follows his exit announcement, in which he endorsed his deputy Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

Harris is set to become the official Democratic nominee at the party’s national convention in Chicago later this month. 

When asked about his confidence in a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025, Biden stated, “If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all. He means what he says. We don’t take him seriously.” 

He referenced Trump’s previous comments, including warnings of a “bloodbath” and claims of a “stolen election”.

“You can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said.