Joe Biden Quietly Lowers Expectations for Democrats in the Midterms

President Joe Biden continues trumpeting his agenda on the fundraising circuit even as he quietly prepares his supporters for a Republican takeover.

“If we lose control of the House and Senate, we have a different world,” Biden told supporters in New York City on Wednesday. “I’ll be spending all my time with the veto pen, but it won’t be a lot of initiatives.”

During his fundraising trip through New York City, the president spoke to donors about “enormous, enormous, enormous opportunity” in the next few years of his presidency, but he is also setting the stage to hold his ground against a new Republican majority.

At a fundraiser in Boston earlier in September, Biden reminded his supporters that the party of every modern president, save one, lost the majority midterm election within the first two years of their presidency.

“Remember Barack? We lost 60-some vote — we lost 60-some House members, et cetera,” he said, recalling the 63 house seats lost by Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections and the loss of six seats in the United States Senate.

(The one exception is when Republicans under George W. Bush gained eight seats in 2002 and gained one senate seat in the first two years of his presidency.)

“We’re up this — this election is going to be tight — very tight,” Biden warned during a New York City fundraiser on Thursday.

“And if we lose the House and the Senate, it changes the trajectory of much of what we do.”

He boasted however of his successful two years as president, noting he got “85 percent” done of what he wanted to do.

During his remarks Thursday, Biden mistakenly referred to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as “the speaker” asking the crowd what they knew about his proposals if Republicans took the majority.

“What the Republicans are for? Can anybody here — and I’m not joking — can anybody here tell me what the Republican platform is?” he asked — even as McCarthy prepares to publicly release his Commitment to America plan of action if the GOP takes the majority.

Biden continues spreading fear about the extreme “MAGA Republicans” on the fundraising circuit, even though he admitted to donors he was receiving some criticism for doing so.

“The fact is that extreme Republicans are going to take us backwards — the MAGA Republicans, full of hate and disorder,” he said. “And it’s just — there’s just a lot at stake.  And we have to choose a different path.”

Biden griped that Republicans wanted to cut taxes again and would try to cut his funding priorities.

“They’re going to raise — I won’t go through the whole thing. I won’t bore you with it. You’ve got to — you’ll figure it out,” he said. “It’s a very different, different view. A very different view.”

Speaking about abortion, Biden vowed to veto any legislation restricting abortion rights brought to him by a Republican Congress.

“I’m going to be around at least for another two years … I’m going to veto it,” he said.

At times, however, Biden has appeared more bullish about his future, including signaling his interest in running for reelection.

During his New York City fundraiser stop, he vowed to get an assault weapons ban passed.

“I promise you, as long as I’m your President — before I leave, whether it’s in four years or eight years, it is going to — we’re going to have the assault weapons ban again,” he boasted.