Joe Biden continues to struggle as new reports reveal the former president’s post-White House years look far leaner than those of his predecessors. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden is “struggling to cash in on his presidency,” with organizations “reluctant” to pay his speaking fees and Democratic allies keeping their distance.
“Biden, 82 years old, is charting a postpresidency that is less lucrative than what he’d expected when he left office,” the Journal reported Monday. His speaking requests, which can cost $300,000 to $500,000, have been sparse. Unlike Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, who built lucrative foundations and commanded global stages, Biden “spent his first Independence Day out of the White House at a high-end trailer park” in Malibu.
The report adds that Biden has been spotted on Amtrak and commercial flights, while “options for big jobs are limited by his advanced age, his unpopularity in Democratic circles and companies—concerned about retribution from President Trump—that aren’t offering speaking gigs.”
Biden’s memoir also failed to draw the massive advances seen by Obama and Clinton, netting him around $10 million. Fundraising for a presidential library has stalled, as even longtime Democratic bundlers hesitate to back him. Journalist Mark Halperin summed up Biden’s financial challenges in May: “The trough is empty, the spigot has shut down. They need a way to get back in the game to make big money to have the grandchildren fed and clothed and flown first-class.”
Even his former running mate has joined critics. Kamala Harris’s new book claims Democrats were reckless to let Biden run for a second term.
