President Biden is preparing to leave the White House with little fanfare.
Democrats are eager to turn the page on a difficult year in which they lost to President-elect Trump, who has absorbed much of the spotlight well before assuming office for the second time.
Biden, for his part, has taken several major foreign trips since the election. He also pardoned his son, is negotiating a cease-fire in Gaza, increasing aid to Ukraine, and working the holiday circuit while giving speeches in and around Washington.
He also made headlines just before Christmas when he announced that he would commute the sentences of 37 people on federal death row.
However, the president’s public appearance has received little attention as the media has focused on Trump’s announcements for his second Cabinet, a network television interview, and his first press conference since winning the election at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Aside from Trump and his allies intervening in onerous government funding negotiations at the end of the year, Biden and the White House remained largely silent. Instead, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) led the chorus.
Republicans said Biden’s absence from major events is normal, along with his avoidance of the press at all costs.
“He is been missing for a long time. We saw him travel to Africa, where he refused to answer any visible questions and was largely shielded from the media. We know he is going to Italy; presumably, the media will have the same level of access,” said GOP strategist Doug Heye.
Democrats, too, have done little to support their party’s leader, instead expressing their desire for Biden to step down, even if they disagree with who will succeed him.
“There is a lot of disappointment about how this presidency is ending. A Democratic lobbyist said, “It is almost like a resignation at this point.”
“Among Democrats, nobody’s looking forward to Donald Trump being president, but everybody’s ready for the Biden presidency to be done.”
According to Jon Favreau, a former President Obama speechwriter, Trump’s press conference reinforced the perception that Biden was absent from the public stage, despite the fact that Biden was delivering a speech at the Labor Department while Trump was announcing a $100 billion investment from SoftBank.
“It was essentially a standard presidential policy announcement, with the main exception that Trump is not yet president. A fact that is becoming increasingly easy to forget as Joe Biden appears to fade from the public eye as his term comes to an end,” Favreau said on his “Pod Save America” podcast.
Favreau and his co-hosts also mentioned Trump’s attendance at the Army-Navy game earlier in December, pointing out that Biden had never attended. Trump once again drew media attention, thanks in part to his entourage, which included his embattled Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth.
Some Democrats said they are unconcerned about Trump stealing the spotlight in the final month, noting that he is not acting inappropriately and appears more measured than eight years ago.
Others point out that Obama captured the media’s attention in 2008, when he was first elected as former President George W. Bush was leaving the White House.
One longtime Democratic donor and bundler called Trump’s behavior as “a media issue” rather than an actual issue.
“I have not seen much of what he is done that is objectionable. He is getting people to invest in the United States, which is a good thing. He is meeting with foreign leaders. When other people win elections, they frequently hold phone calls with foreign leaders.
“I am sure the conversations are not much different in person than over the phone,” the source said. “If he acts inappropriately, it would be troublesome but he seems to be more measured than he was eight years ago.”
Democratic supporters are disappointed by Biden’s remaining term.
“I believe that people, including many in the White House, are simply ready for it to end. The administration accomplished a lot, but the most important thing was winning, which we did not do,” said the longtime Democratic donor and bundler.
The White House continues to work behind the scenes on two major foreign fronts: increasing aid to Ukraine and attempting to reach a ceasefire agreement to end the fighting in Gaza.
But Trump has received more attention for some of his meetings with foreign leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after threatening tariffs and joking that he would make Canada the 51st state.
Adam Abrams, a communications official in the Obama White House, argued that Biden can still command attention in the final days of his presidency to define his legacy on his own terms if he uses his bully pulpit.
“President Biden can and will use the bully pulpit to define his historic legacy, detailing everything he is accomplished, the remarkable consistency of his values, and the breadth of his achievements.
After all, as president, he does not have to compete for the media’s or the public’s attention; rather, he can command it,” said Abrams, a Seven Letter partner.
“While the frenzy continues with the Trump transition and the year-end funding battle on Capitol Hill, President Biden is actively reinforcing his record by using the final stretch to make progress on his core priorities,” Mr. Abrams said.
Biden has commanded a lot of attention, though not always for the best reasons.
He sparked outrage among Democrats again when he announced that he would pardon his son Hunter Biden after insisting for months that he would not do so.
According to sources, the move left Democrats “disgusted” and “totally” pissed off with Biden World in general.
That was on top of the feelings many Democrats already had about Biden, who should have chosen not to run for reelection or left the 2024 race sooner; Vice President Harris had only about 100 days to run against Trump before losing decisively.
Democrats had an upsetting year overall, losing the White House and the Senate while failing to flip the House.
According to Ivan Zapien, a former Democratic National Committee official, the end-of-year sentiment among Democrats is less about Biden and more about general disappointment.
“Losing is not fun, and I think you are seeing not fun play out across the Democratic Party spectrum,” according to Zapien. “I would not call it Biden fatigue — it is more of a, ‘well that sucked, rest up for the following one’ feeling.”