Joe Biden is inching back onto the national stage.
On Tuesday, the former president will deliver a speech to disability advocates in Chicago focused on protecting Social Security and Republicans’ attempts to attack it, according to two former administration officials granted anonymity to discuss the remarks.
It’s the third public appearance Biden has made in recent weeks, drawing the understated contours of his post-presidency into focus. Earlier this month, Biden became an honorary member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, speaking to more than 1,000 members in Washington, D.C. and he dropped in on the Model United Nations conference in New York City in March. He’s also working on another book, according to the officials.
It’s a politically convenient moment for Biden to reemerge, as President Donald Trump’s tariff whiplash has upended the economy and Trump has seen his own popularity plunge in public polling. A CBS survey released Sunday found nearly two-thirds of voters oppose Trump’s tariffs, and a majority blamed Trump, not Biden, as responsible for the state of the American economy.
Even so, many Democrats are not eager to see Biden back in the public eye. One former Biden donor and bundler, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, said the speeches are “fine” because “that’s what you expect a former president to do, but I don’t anticipate crowds of Democrats wanting him as a focal point of the national conversation.”
“It takes a special level of chutzpah as the man most responsible for reelecting Donald Trump to decide it’s your voice that is missing in this moment,” said another person who worked closely with the Biden campaign, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “The country would be better served if he rode off into the sunset.”
Biden has largely returned to the schedule he maintained as a senator, commuting to Washington from Delaware, often by Amtrak, about twice a week, according to one of the former officials. He’s also catching up with former aides and checking in with members of Congress, the person added.
Biden met with Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin in February, and the DNC sent a Biden-signed fundraising email last month.
Five months after her defeat, former Vice President Kamala Harris has also started to wade into the public conversation again, as she weighs a bid for California governor. Without mentioning Trump by name, Harris told attendees at a women’s leadership conference in California last week: “There were many things that we knew would happen,” adding with a laugh, “I’m not here to say I told you so. I swore I wasn’t gonna say that.”
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