Politico: “As former President Donald Trump continues to tease a 2024 run and tightens his grip on the Republican party, Joe Biden’s resolve to run in 2024 has grown, according to several Democrats connected to the White House. Biden has previously declared that, ‘My plan is to run for reelection,’ but some Democrats felt he had to say that to avoid being seen as a lame duck. Democrats in and around the White House, however, are increasingly convinced that barring some huge shift, Biden is going to run again, despite the fact he’d be 86 years old at the end of a second term.”

“‘Does a secret voluntary one-termer put four-term Franklin over the fireplace?’ quipped one Democrat connected to the White House, referring to the FDR portrait hanging in Biden’s Oval Office. According to his allies, Biden believes that he is the Democrat best equipped to take on Trump, just as he did in the lead up to 2020. They also say that is driven by the idea that his legacy could be that of the president who defeated Trump and Trumpism, which he sees as an ugly, corrosive movement. As Trump has gotten more serious about running again, so too has the Biden team’s resolve to seek a second term. But regardless of whether Trump pulls the trigger, the 2024 campaign is still poised to be a contest between the Biden legacy and Trump’s party. And Democrats close to the White House say that Trump’s grip on Republicans may be motivation enough. Trump openly teased the prospect of running again in 2024 this past weekend in North Carolina, and close allies say he’s taking another campaign more seriously. ‘If he made a decision today, I suspect he’d pull the trigger,’ said one confidant. ‘I think it’s fair to say that it’s a 50/50 shot that he does it. It’s not hard to imagine that in Trump’s mind, if not for coronavirus, he would have easily won. So why not run?'”