Greek-American entrepreneur and Democratic Party donor Dennis Mehiel described President Joe Biden’s agonizing hours with his inner circle to decide whether to run for re-election back in July.
Mehiel, a personal friend of Biden, was among 20 or so people that the American President listened to after the disappointing debate with Donald Trump.
Speaking to Greek Reporter, Mehiel, said he was not disappointed that Biden decided not to continue for the race.
“The reason that I didn’t want him to run again is because he’s only eight months younger than me,” Mehiel said referring to the age of Biden who will turn 82 in November.
“I’m measuring my capacity compared to what it was 20 years ago. And I had to bring my son back into the business to keep things on track. Second terms in the United States, particularly in recent decades, have not been kind to those presidents.”
Dennis Mehiel, a celebrated business figure and philanthropist, serves as the Chairman and shareholder of US Corrugated. Born in March 1942, Mehiel has built a prominent legacy in the business world.
Dennis Mehiel a personal friend of Joe Biden
In 2018, two years into Trump’s Presidency, Biden was contemplating whether to run in 2020. He was not sure. It was Mehiel that grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket, and began “shaking him,” he recalls, saying, “Do you realize that you are the Harry Truman of our time?”. Eventually, Biden ran and won the election. This episode testifies to the close personal friendship between the two men.
But six years later, circumstances changed. “At a moment in time, he said he was running, we were behind him a thousand percent,” Mehiel recalls. Then came the disastrous debate with Trump. Already there was an undercurrent among the electorate focusing on his age and his ability to continue.
“I spent an hour and a half to two hours with Joe on the Saturday night following that debate with about 20 other people in a room…I can tell you that in terms of his ability, we talked politics and we talked policy. There wasn’t anything he wasn’t up on sharp through the answer. His voice was lower. His pattern of speech was a bit slower.”
The Greek-American Democratic donor said that it is difficult for a president of the United States to give up a job. He spent some time with Biden and his sister and talked about it in some detail. Biden eventually concluded that there was some risk, although he believed he could beat Trump.
“It was looking like a very tight, difficult race, and things could go wrong. The idea that he would finish up his four years and Trump would follow him was much, much, much more important to Joe than whether he got to continue for another four years,” Mehiel said.
“You put the country ahead of anything else, and I know I’m talking like a supporter of Joe Biden, I love the guy, so I’ve got a bias. But these are facts.”
Biden’s legacy
“My view was, Joe, having been the most consequential president since either Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson, should retire and he’s got a wonderful legacy,” he added speaking to Greek Reporter.
Mehiel highlighted the legacy left behind by Biden. “He was being measured against Trump’s four years of chaos and drama. So, just the return to normalcy was, I think, kind of a big step forward.”
He also mentioned some of the accomplishments Biden encountered despite the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. He re-established a solid employment base and began the repatriation of key manufacturing industries. He also put the international community back together that Trump was in the process of dismembering.
Transition to Kamala Harris
Mehiel told Greek Reporter that the transition from Biden to Kamala Harris has been “as good as it gets” for the Democrats.
“I would say that if we had planned what happened, with Joe dropping out, Kamala reaching out to the delegates within three or four days securing the nomination, and then her performance since she became the candidate, it’s as good as it gets.
The Democrats have a history of a circular firing squad where we get in a big circle and shoot at each other, he explains.
“The chaos that would have erupted if Joe exited the race and there was no clear replacement, and he had not endorsed Kamala, in the convention would have been an unmitigated disaster. So the orchestration of that transition was seamless. She has stepped into that void that was created.”
Related: Biden’s Month to Meltdown: A Chronicle of Political Collapse
