In a new interview with the New Yorker, President Biden and his top aides are making it clear that they have no regrets about his presidency and plan to rely heavily on President Trump’s unpopularity and legal troubles in order to draw a more stark contrast between the two men. 

The president spoke with staff writer Evan Osnos, who wrote a biography of Mr. Biden that came out just before the 2020 election. During their sit-down in the West Wing, the president said that he had little else on his mind beyond his predecessor. 

“I’ll show you where Trump sat and watched the revolution,” Mr. Biden told his biographer, ushering him into the West Wing dining room where Mr. Trump watched the events of January 6 unfold. “This is where he sat. I don’t do interviews here, because it’s not so commodious.”

Mr. Biden spoke at length about the threat he feels Mr. Trump poses to American democracy, speaking about January 6, 2021, and his claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

One of the president’s senior advisors who has worked with him since his early Senate days, Mike Donilon, made it clear to Mr. Osnos that Mr. Trump’s character and history will be what voters go to the ballot box for this fall — not Mr. Biden’s faults. 

Mr. Donilon — the architect of the “restore the soul of America” campaign mantra in 2020 — says that the press, donors, and elite Democrats mocked the campaign for embracing that message four years ago instead of kitchen table issues. Mr. Biden himself said that the press has doubted him and his team for far too long. 

“First of all, remember, in 2020, you guys told me how I wasn’t going to win?” Mr. Biden asked Mr. Osnos, ignoring the writer’s questions about his dismal approval rating and lagging in the polls behind Mr. Trump. “And then you told me in 2022 how it was going to be this red wave? And I told you there wasn’t going to be any red wave. And in 2023, you told me we’re going to get our ass kicked again? And we won every contested race out there.” 

“In 2024, I think you’re going to see the same thing,” Mr. Biden said, making clear that he pays no mind to Democratic detractors and legacy press framing. 

One of those elite Democrats who has long criticized Mr. Biden is President Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod. During the 2020 Democratic primaries, Mr. Axelrod compared Mr. Biden to Mr. Magoo — the famously aloof, inattentive old man character. That comment led Mr. Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi, to call Mr. Axelrod “a jerk with a microphone.”

Mr. Biden himself has called Mr. Axelrod “a prick” in private, according to Mr. Osnos. 

The president also makes it clear in his interview that he sees himself as a historic figure worthy of the presidency — not just a “transition” figure from one generation to the next, which is how Mr. Biden described himself in 2020. Now, he says he is “best positioned” to lead the Democratic Party and defeat his predecessor. 

The polls say otherwise. When talking to Democratic operatives, they will always say the reason Mr. Biden so consistently trails Mr. Trump in the 2024 national polls is that Americans aren’t yet focused on the contest and will side with Mr. Biden when it comes down to the wire. 

Yet for the first time in modern history, two men who have both sat behind the resolute desk are competing for the position. Everyone has an opinion about both men. Only Mr. Biden does not seem to care about those polls or worries from his fellow Democrats. 

One of his chief political advisors, Jen O’Malley Dillon, told the New Yorker, “Historically, favorability and vote choice have been correlated. I actually think that that’s no longer the case.” The Biden circle — including the president himself — is betting that even though his approval rating is stuck in the high 30s or low 40s, voters will come to support him by November.