Jill Biden tells donors Joe’s presidency hamstrung by crises

First lady Jill Biden told donors her husband’s political agenda has been sidetracked by unexpected crises at home and overseas.

Biden, 71, made the remarks during a private Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Nantucket, Mass., as President Joe Biden wrapped up his four-day trip to the Middle East, according to CNN.

Her comments came after pollsters recently found most Democrats don’t want the president to seek a second term. His approval rating was a dismal 33%, and only 13% of Americans thought the country was headed in the right direction, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday.

“[The President] had so many hopes and plans for things he wanted to do, but every time you turned around, he had to address the problems of the moment,” the First Lady reportedly told about two dozen people at a private home.

Jill Biden referenced gun violence, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade and opposition to signature legislation within his own party as examples of unforeseen obstacles her husband has contended with.

“He’s just had so many things thrown his way,” she reportedly said. “Who would have ever thought about what happened [with the Supreme Court overturning] Roe v. Wade? Well, maybe we saw it coming, but still we didn’t believe it. The gun violence in this country is absolutely appalling. We didn’t see the war in Ukraine coming.”

Setbacks at home and abroad had also curtailed her own agenda, Biden said, according to the network.

“I was saying to myself, ‘Okay, I was Second Lady. I worked on community colleges. I worked on military families. I’ve worked on cancer.’ They were supposed to be my areas of focus. But then when we got [in the White House,] I had to be, with all that was happening, the First Lady of the moment.”

It was the second fundraiser Biden attended during a three-day trip to the Bay State. On Thursday she reportedly spoke to donors at a private event in Andover.