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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Sravasti Dasgupta

Biden ‘would not be disappointed’ to face rematch against Trump in 2024

Screengrab/Channel 12 Israel

US president Joe Biden has expressed confidence about a possible rematch with Donald Trump in 2024 and said he would not be “disappointed” if that were to happen.

“I’m not predicting, but I would not be disappointed,” Mr Biden said in an interview with Israeli television outlet Channel 12 on Wednesday.

When pressed further on what he meant, the president said: “The one thing I know about politics — and American politics in particular — is there’s no way to predict what’s going to happen.

“I’m not even halfway through my term yet, and so there’s a lot of room to figure out what’s going to happen,” he added.

Mr Biden’s comments come just a day after he misrepresented a recent poll that showed most Democrats don’t want him to run for office again, insisting that the party supports him in contesting the 2024 election.

According to a poll conducted by The New York Times, at least 64 per cent of Democrats want a new candidate for the 2024 race.

When asked about the poll, Mr Biden said on Tuesday: “They want me to run.”

“Read the poll. Read the polls, Jack. You guys are all the same,” the president said at the White House Congressional Picnic on Tuesday.

“That poll showed that 92 per cent of Democrats, if I ran, would vote for me,” he claimed.

Mr Biden embarked on his first Middle East trip as president on Wednesday, kicking it off with his Israel visit.

In the same Channel 12 interview, Mr Biden said the US would use force to prevent Iran from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons if all other options fail.

The president met with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and later met Holocaust survivors at the Yad Vashem museum.

He is scheduled to meet Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid.

He will later visit Saudi Arabia with the goal “to reorient — but not rupture” the US’s relationship with Riyadh and take a tougher stance with the kingdom on some issues.

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