President Joe Biden said some world leaders are worried about former President Donald Trump taking office again.
In a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine, Biden recalled the first G7 meeting he attended after being elected. According to the president, after he told the other forum leaders that America was “back,” French President Emmanuel Macron asked him, “For how long?” Biden says German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded similarly.
“What would you say, Mr. President, if tomorrow you pick up the London Times and found out that thousands of people stormed the British Parliament, broke down the doors, killed two Bobbies to prevent the implement — the swearing in of a, of a prime minister, a choice of prime minister,” Scholz apparently said, referencing the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Biden claimed leaders told him that Trump can’t be president again.
“There’s not a major international meeting I attend that before it’s over — and I’ve attended many, more than most presidents have in three and a half years — that a world leader doesn’t pull me aside as I’m leaving and say, ‘He can’t win. You can’t let him win.’”
Biden’s recollections appear to be a new attempt to contrast himself with Trump. The Democratic incumbent later expressed how the coming presidential election is a global issue. “My democracy and their democracy is at stake. … And so name me a world leader other than [Viktor] Orban and [Vladimir] Putin who think that Trump should be the world leader in the United States of America.”
White House communications director Ben LaBolt then halted the line of questioning, saying, “We’ll have to leave it there.”
Scholz and Macron both come from liberal political parties in their respective countries, and the latter is the only one to have been the leader of his country during Trump’s presidency. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who did speak with Trump on several occasions, laughed when asked if Trump had “charmed” her.
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Trump has had tricky relations with other world leaders at times — his feud with Merkel is a prime example.
The former president has met with several nations’ emissaries in the lead-up to the 2024 elections, notably the United Kingdom’s David Cameron, with several likely hedging in case Biden loses the election.