Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio called on his party to "be more honest" after Americans felt "betrayed" over the Democratic Party keeping quiet on President Biden’s decline.
De Blasio joined a panel on CNN’s "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" to offer more commentary on what was behind Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party’s resounding losses in the 2024 election.
He argued part of the problem was Harris being unwilling to separate herself from Biden, as well as the Democratic Party’s hesitation to criticize Biden until after he dropped out of the race.
"Let‘s be honest, we‘ve got to be more honest. 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.
"I‘ll take my share of the blame," he admitted. "I mean, I wanted to believe Joe Biden could make it through. He was a great president in many ways. 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."
Until Biden dropped out of the race in July, Democrats and members of the mainstream media attempted to downplay worries and criticizism of his mental state, insisting he was "sharp" behind the scenes.
After Biden withdrew from the race, more Democrats began speaking out against the president, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi going so far as to suggest Biden should have stepped out sooner.
"So this time, why don‘t we be the party of bluntness and authenticity? Why don‘t we take a 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," de Blasio said.
De Blasio also argued Harris’ loyalty to Biden did more harm than good, saying Harris was not doing enough to "draw some distinction" between them.
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"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. 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," he said.
Harris repeatedly declined answering questions on what she knew about Biden’s mental state, even when asked during her campaign.
