Joe Biden considering shock 2028 presidential comeback

Former President reportedly convinced America may be ready for one final Biden comeback

Former President Joe Biden is reportedly considering an extraordinary return to American politics by standing for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.

Sources close to the 83-year-old former President say Biden has recently begun asking friends and former advisers whether the Democratic Party has found anyone better since he left office. The answer has apparently encouraged him, with one former aide telling the OMS:

“The President has been watching the emerging Democratic field very closely. Well, Jill has been watching it and shouting updates at him.

His basic question is: ‘Who have they got who has actually beaten Trump?’ And, to be fair, nobody has yet come up with an answer.

Look what happened after he withdrew? Kamala Harris was roundly beaten. we cannot risk that again."

‘I never lost’

Biden is understood to remain frustrated by suggestions that his political career ended in defeat and failure in 2024. According to confidants familiar with his thinking, the former President has repeatedly pointed out that he did not actually lose the 2024 presidential election.

Pressured to withdraw by leading Democrats, he was forced to watch as Kamala Harris was soundly beaten by a returning Donald Trump, an outcome which the Biden's feel demonstrates the lack of judgement by the 'Democratic establishment'. As a six-term Senator, two-term Vice President and one-term President, Biden does not consider himself part of this establishment.

One Biden loyalist, Meibei Sane explained in a recent article:

“People talk about 2024 as though Joe lost. He didn't. Kamala lost. Joe Biden remains undefeated.

“Muhammad Ali lost five fights. Joe Biden has lost zero presidential elections. You tell me who the greater comeback candidate is.”

Biden's allies also believe Donald Trump has provided an important constitutional and psychological precedent. After losing the 2020 election aged 74, Trump declined to accept that his political career was over, returned four years later at the age of 78 and won back the White House.

Biden is reportedly fascinated by this seemingly improbable comeback, and believes that he can repeat Trump's return to the White House, especially since he was never rejected by the voters.

One former adviser said:

“As with so many things, Trump completely changed the rules. It used to be understood that when an elderly President lost an election, he graciously retired, wrote his memoirs, built a presidential library and occasionally turned up at funerals. George Bush Senior was the archetype. Trump has overturned this, and shows you can do whatever you goddamn like".

Another Biden confidant put the argument more succinctly:

“If Trump can come back, why can't Joe?”

‘Draft Joe’

People close to Biden stress that no decision has been made and that the former President is unlikely to participate in a conventional primary campaign. Rather, discussions have focused on Biden remaining 'above the fray' as candidates thrash it out amongst themselves, allowing Biden to return as a party unity candidate.

The strategy has provisionally been named Operation Draft Joe. A former White House official said:

“The American people don't want another 18-month presidential campaign. And, quite frankly, neither does Joe. Just the convention itself would be draining enough, so we will target that".

Some Star Wars enthusiasts amongst the Biden camp refer to 2028 being 'Return of the JOEdi'. This in their minds is the natural successor to 2024's 'Empire Strikes Back' style return of Donald Trump.

Campaign strategists are also understood to have identified several lessons from Biden's unsuccessful 2024 re-election campaign. These include fewer television interviews, shorter speeches, no presidential debates and an absolute prohibition on any cameras being present when he attempts to walk down a flight of aircraft stairs.

Health ‘not necessarily a barrier’

Biden's health would inevitably become an issue in any comeback. Biden would be 86 by the 2028 election and 90 at the end of a second term.The former President has been undergoing treatment for metastatic prostate cancer and has maintained a relatively limited public schedule since leaving office.

Biden advisers nevertheless believe American politics has moved beyond outdated ideas that presidential candidates need to be young, healthy or continually visible.

One strategist said:

“Ronald Reagan was 77 when he left office and people thought that was ancient. We've moved on as a society. Joe would only be 86 on election day. You can't keep applying twentieth-century standards to twenty-first-century gerontology.”

The campaign is reportedly examining advances in artificial intelligence, teleprompter technology and Hollywood digital de-ageing as part of what one adviser described as a “modern solution to the ancient issue”.

A proposed AI-assisted version of the candidate, provisionally called BAIden, could allow the former President to address several campaign rallies simultaneously while Biden himself remains at home in Delaware.

Advisers insist the technology would not replace Biden, and that any AI version of Biden would be tightly controlled by the same close circle of advisers who had already acquired extensive experience making decisions on Biden's behalf during the latter stages of his presidency.

BAIden would merely reproduce his voice, appearance, political views and presidential decision-making while dramatically reducing the requirement for his physical participation. One leading Silicon Valley Democrat claimed:

'Given the speed at which AI is developing, he could be President for ever'

Democrats divided

Many Democrats believe the party should promote generational change, and must find a 2028 version of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama to face the electorate in 2028. After laughing at the notion of the Democrat party possessing such talent, Biden allies dismiss this as naked ageism.

“Joe has spent his entire career fighting discrimination,” said one supporter. “From his courageous record on school busing in the 1970s to his inspirational handling of Anita Hill, Joe has always been there. Why should someone now be prevented from becoming President merely because of an arbitrary characteristic like being 86?”

Biden himself has made no public comment about a 2028 campaign. Asked by reporters about his political future after leaving church in Delaware on Sunday, the former President smiled, raised his hand and said:

“Look, folks, here's the deal. I've always said America can do anything when America... when we... anyway.”

Democratic strategists described the appearance as an encouraging start.