Former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has just released her memoir View From the East Wing, billed as her sharing her “White House experiences for the first time, in her own words”, and promising to take readers “behind the scenes” of her husband’s administration.
Her book reveals how the Bidens dealt with his disastrous performance against Donald Trump during the first presidential debate, theorizing that he may have accidentally taken codeine cough syrup or Ambien before the debate. Whatever the reason, in an interview with CBS News on Sunday, she said she became worried he was “having a stroke” on stage, saying, “it scared me to death”.
In the immediate aftermath of the debate, there were calls for Biden to withdraw his candidacy from across the Democratic Party, including from many formerly staunch Biden allies. She laid out just how much this hurt them in a book event in New York last night, where she was interviewed by Whoopi Goldberg.
Biden was asked if she and Joe were surprised at who was telling him to quit the race, underlining that “Joe and I were devastated.” In comments reported by The Guardian, she explained:
“To have people who we really considered close friends come out publicly and say really terrible things about Joe … if you want to come to us and say that to us personally, that’s one thing. But to go on TV shows or out in the press or send me op-eds or whatever – it was really hurtful.”
Did she tell him to stay in the race?
But after the debate, the writing was on the wall for Biden’s candidacy. Her memoir reveals that Biden himself whispered “I really f–ked up, didn’t I?” to his wife as he left the stage. She whispered back, “Yes, you did”.
That’s in stark contrast to her public message, as at a rally shortly after this debate, she told the crowd: “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts.”
Goldberg quizzed Biden on whether she encouraged her husband to stay in the race or not, and whether her advice clashed with his inner circle. She emphasized that these were her husband’s calls to make:
“I would support Joe whether he wanted to stay in or he wanted to get out. … But the thing to me was, he had to make this decision by himself … because it was a decision he had to live with for the rest of his life.”
We all know what happened next: Biden quit, Kamala Harris replaced him, Donald Trump proceeded to win convincingly, and we are where we are now. Biden was asked if she has any lingering anger over what happened in the summer of 2024, but says she’s over it: “What’s the purpose of anger now?”
The Democratic Party is currently gearing up to select its candidate for the 2028 election, so will be carefully studying what went wrong in 2024 and hoping not to repeat the same mistakes. Only time will tell if they succeed.
Published: Jun 3, 2026 05:00 pm