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By Sonam Sheth
Evening Politics Editor
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What's New
The hosts of Pod Save America tore into President Joe Biden on Tuesday, saying that he has disappeared from public view since President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 election.
Why It Matters
Biden has drawn sharp criticism from supporters and critics for stepping away from the spotlight in the wake of Trump's victory.
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Jon Favreau, who served as a speechwriter to President Barack Obama, opened the discussion by pointing to Trump's announcement on Monday that Japan's SoftBank will invest $100 billion in technology and artificial intelligence projects in the U.S.
"It was more or less a standard presidential policy announcement, the main difference being Trump isn't president yet, a fact that's getting easier and easier to forget as Joe Biden seems to be disappearing from the public stage as his term comes to an end," Favreau said on the podcast.
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Co-host Jon Lovett, who also worked as a speechwriter for Obama, described the announcement as a "funhouse mirror version of a presidential announcement."
Lovett pointed out that in the past, when private-sector entities invested in U.S. jobs, they would praise American innovation and "speak about how great America is." By contrast, when SoftBank chief executive announced the bank's investment on Monday, he specifically lauded Trump and his business acumen.
"It's more blending of the private and the public and making it less about the country and more about Donald Trump personally," Lovett said.
He added, in a sarcastic tone: "That said, Joe Biden believes in tradition and institutions and we should only have one president at a time. And I think it's a surprising choice to allow it to be Donald Trump. But if that's what his plan is, I think it's about his long-term respect for our basic mores."
What To Know
Trump has overshadowed Biden in other ways, too.
As Newsweek reported on Tuesday, the incoming president has replaced Biden on the world stage as the focal point in foreign policy discussions, making key appointments and having discussions with allies and adversaries to lay the groundwork for his agenda.
"It's unusual, because usually presidents-elect like to either stay on the side and prepare, or act as if they're on the sidelines," Daniel Fried, a former senior State Department official who served as U.S. ambassador to Poland, told Newsweek's Daniel Bush.
On the domestic front, Trump made headlines over the weekend when he attended the Army-Navy college football game just outside Washington, D.C., with Vice President-elect JD Vance. Biden was not in attendance.
"Trump generally is very good at using social events to, like, show off this kind of pageantry and trappings of the presidency," Tommy Vietor, who served as a spokesperson for the National Security Council under Obama, said on Pod Save America. "He does it better than, I think, any president in our lifetime, better than Obama, better than Biden."
What People Are Saying
John Herbst, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told Newsweek: "It's not surprising that foreign leaders are turning to" Trump. "People know there's a new guy coming in and they're paying attention."
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show: "Maybe this is how we should do the transfer of power. The winner moves into the White House, and the incumbent just wanders off into the jungle."
What Comes Next
Biden still has a few key initiatives he wants to make progress on before leaving office.
According to a memo the White House put out on Sunday, Biden plans to issue more pardons and commutations; take steps to protect federal lands; work to forgive more student debt; rein in artificial intelligence; and award more money from the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
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