Jill Biden’s ex has criticized the First Lady for encouraging Joe to run for president following the incumbent president’s disastrous debate performance on Thursday night.
Bill Stevenson, 75, told it The New York Post on saturday that He ‘just now [doesn’t] “Understand why ‘his ex-wife’ is so adamant about defending him and keeping him in the race because it looks like he’s going through a tough time.”
“The Dr. Jill Biden that I have seen on TV for the past five years is not the same person that I married or recognize in any way,” said Stevenson, who was married to Jill from 1970 to 1975.
“She’s grown into a completely different woman,” he continued.
“It seems like he’s struggling with everybody these days,” he said of the president, who he previously alleged had an affair with Jill while they were still married.
Bill Stevenson, 75, made the statement Saturday in response to the president’s troubling performance during the debate.
He was married to Jill from 1970 to 1975 and had some not so kind words about his “struggling” replacement who married Jill two years later
“I watched Jill grow up,” he continued of his ex-wife, who Joe reportedly met in 1975 on a blind date arranged by his brother Frank.
‘I have been proud of her at certain times. I have no grudges,” he said, now with a family of his own.
“I’m just surprised to see her so front and center in this fight after going unnoticed for so many years.
“She’s always been very driven,” he added of his first wife, who began a career in education a year after meeting Joe.
“People are saying she’s the one who wants to be president now,” he then claimed, as the idea of replacements like California’s Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris regains credibility.
Speaking to The New York Post, the Delaware citizen joined a chorus of countless others calling for the sitting president to resign.
Seen here with his former wife in the 1970s, Stevenson previously claimed that the relationship between Jill and the then-juror senator began as an affair, as Democrats continue to ponder the possibility of a last-minute replacement
His interview ended there and was apparently a response to reports aired hours earlier showing the first lady under fire for refusing to advise her current husband to call it quits.
‘A lot of people blame his wife… because she didn’t tell him [to step aside],” one Democratic donor frustrated with Biden’s tepid performance during the debate told the Post.
On Friday, the former teacher was mercilessly mocked for claiming at a meeting that her husband was doing exceptionally well – and had “answered every question” put to him.
Insiders have since said her opinion is one of the most valued in the president’s inner circle — and The New York Times reported that she privately dismissed Biden’s bumbling confrontation with his longtime rival as just “a bad night.”
During the bad night she referred to, the Democratic Party’s candidate for the White House repeatedly stumbled over his words and continually lost his way. This raises the question of whether he will be mentally fit for another four years.
On Saturday, those fears were further heightened when The Times reported that Several Silicon Valley “mega-donors” tried to reach the first lady to influence her her to convince Biden to bow out in favor of a younger candidate — efforts that were apparently unsuccessful.
Biden, 81, doubled down on his performance in the debate the day before, at a rally in North Carolina. He said he was still the party’s best chance to beat Trump.
“I know I’m not a young man, I don’t walk as easily as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to,”
His interview appeared to be a response to reports that had aired hours earlier indicating that the First Lady was under fire for refusing to advise her current husband to call it quits after his lackluster performance during Friday’s presidential debate.
Biden, in turn, doubled down on his debate performance from the day before, at a rally in North Carolina on Friday, where he said he was still the party’s best chance to beat Trump
“But I know what I do know,” he continued, to thunderous applause. “I know how to tell the truth. I know what’s right and wrong. I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.”
“I know, as many Americans know, that when you get knocked down, you get back up,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the New York Times implored Biden in an editorial to step aside.
“There are Democratic leaders who are better equipped to present clear, compelling, and energetic alternatives to a second Trump presidency,” the report said.
“There is no reason for the party to risk the stability and security of the country by forcing voters to choose between the shortcomings of Mr. Trump and those of Mr. Biden.”
Concerned aides subsequently told Axios that Biden is often too tired to work past 4 p.m. and struggles to wake up before 10 a.m.
“This is no longer about Joe Biden’s family or his emotions,” a particularly fed-up adviser in touch with the White House told the publication. “This is about our country. It’s an unmitigated disaster that needs to be addressed.”
Experts have since said that it is virtually impossible for Democrats to oust a reluctant Biden at this stage of the election, and that the decision ultimately rests with the president.
Experts, meanwhile, have said it would be virtually impossible for Democrats to oust a reluctant Biden at this late point in the race, and that the decision ultimately rests with the president.
Referring to Biden’s team’s current thought process, one Democratic donor told Politico, “They say, ‘We just had a bad night’ … what they’re missing, a key point they’re missing, is that it’s not just one bad night. There’s no solution to this.”
In the meantime, speculation revolves not just around the prospect of a late-stage replacement, but also around the idea that Democratic donors could pull funding if they feel there is no hope for a Biden victory.
“The biggest problem is the donors,” another source told Politico. “When the money dries up, everyone panics.”
Stevenson, meanwhile, has portrayed Biden and his family as crooked, with the president specifically being a professional liar.
“It makes me shudder when he calls Trump a liar, because I’m telling you right now: There’s no better liar than President Biden,” Stevenson told The Post.
‘He’s just a bad person. I’m probably one of the few people outside of his family who has known him for fifty years.”
At the time of writing, Biden has not yet indicated that he will withdraw from the race.