Is he in or out? Joe Biden clarified previous comments he made about running for president in 2020 during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, December 6.
“I can’t see the circumstance in which I’d run, but what I learned a long, long time ago, Stephen, is to never say never,” Biden told the late-night host, 52. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. Hell, Donald Trump’s going to be 74, I’ll be 77 — and in better shape. What the heck?”
Addressing Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton, he added, “This terrible feeling you’re having right now, it’s not permanent. It’ll be over in four years — maybe eight.”
One day earlier, Biden spoke to reporters at the Capitol. “I’m going to run in 2020.” he said. When asked for what position, he added: “For president. So uh, what the hell, man.”
The vice president previously toyed with going against Trump in the 2016 election but said in October 2015 that he would not run because it was too soon after the death of his son Beau Biden. The Delaware Attorney General died at age 46 of brain cancer in May 2015.
“I know I made the right decision for my family. I know I made the right decision. I’m not sure I would have been able to put my whole heart into it. What I regret is the circumstance that led me not to be able to run. That’s a terrible thing to say in many people’s mind,” he told Colbert.
“Do I think that I was best prepared at this moment to lead the country? I did, because I thought the issues of the greatest concern were in my wheelhouse, things I’ve dealt with my whole career,” he added. “So in that sense, I’m disappointed that I’m not going to be in a position to be making some of those decisions, but I don’t regret the actual decision.”
Watch Colbert and Biden’s chat in the video above.
