Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said some Americans were miffed at Democrats for "covering" for President Joe Biden before Biden dropped out of this year's presidential race.
"Let's be honest, we've got to be more honest," de Blasio told CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" on Tuesday. "Part of what happened here is the American people were pissed off that they felt the Democratic Party was covering for Joe Biden. They were already upset with Joe Biden on a substantive level, not always fairly, but they were on things like inflation. And people are hurting."
De Blasio said he would "take my share of the blame," because he wanted to believe Biden could make it through.
"He was a great president in many ways," de Blasio said. "I wanted to believe he could hang on, but it stood to reason that he should not continue as our candidate. It stood to reason that one term was right, and a lot of Democrats kind of kept their mouths shut. And I think people felt out in the country a little betrayed by that."
Biden dropped out of the presidential race in late July after a disastrous debate performance. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, whose loyalty to the president did more harm than good, de Blasio said.
"In the end, that interview on 'The View' was particularly damning where Kamala Harris couldn't name something she would do different than Biden, and the people of this country, sadly, have become disenchanted with Biden no matter how many successes," he told CNN.
"So, this is going to be, I think, part of the history the campaign needed to create respectful separation from Biden, needed to show the American people passionately that we would do something different, and that never happened."
Democrats should mimic President-elect Donald Trump's approach, de Blasio said.
"So, this time, why don't we be the party of bluntness and authenticity?" he said. "Why don't we take, ironically, a page from Donald Trump's book and be a little blunter and a little less worried about diplomatic language?
"I think if we speak authentically to what people are going through and fight back, I actually think our prospects are pretty good in 2026, certainly to take back the House and then build from there."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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