Biden has become especially quiet since the 2024 election and the Democrats’ defeat.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has been especially quiet since Democrats’ gut-wrenching election defeat.

After years of warning voters that Donald Trump’s victory would be a disaster for American democracy, Biden has remained largely silent about his concerns about what lies ahead for America, and he has yet to seriously reflect on why Democrats were decisively defeated across the ballot.

His only public discussion of the election results came in a roughly six-minute speech in the Rose Garden two days after the election, when he urged people to “see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans” and to “turn down the temperature.” Since then there have been almost no public messages, including throughout Biden’s six-day visit to South America ends on Tuesday evening. His only public comments during the trip came during brief remarks before meetings with government officials.

At a delicate moment in the US – and around the world – Biden’s silence could create a vacuum. But his public reticence also underscored a new reality: America and the rest of the world are already moving forward.

“His race is over. His day is over,” said David Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser in the Obama-Biden White House. “It will be up to the next generation of leaders to chart the path forward, and I am confident they will do so.”

Edward Frantz, a historian at the University of Indianapolis, said Biden’s relative silence after the Republican victory was in some ways understandable. Still, he said there is good reason for Biden to be more proactive in trying to shape that narrative in his final months in office.

“The last time a president left office so irrelevant or rejected by the population was Jimmy Carter,” Frantz said, referring to the last one-term Democrat in the White House. “History has allowed for a great rehabilitation of Carter, thanks in part to everything he did as president. I’m not sure Biden, at 82, has the luxury of time. The longer he waits, the longer he can’t find anything to say, he risks giving up on shaping his legacy, at least as he sees it in the near future.”

Biden allies say the president, like Democrats generally, is privately grieving the election defeat, emphasizing that it’s only been two weeks since Trump won. Biden hasn’t spoken out loud about his role He’s at a loss, they say, and still has a lot to unpack.

Biden said in his post-election speech: “Campaigns are a competition of competing visions. The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice made by the country. I have said many times that you cannot love your country only when you win. You cannot love your neighbor only when you agree.”

Biden aides talk about the president’s persistence about following electoral traditions — ensuring an orderly transition and Trump’s invitation to the White House — especially important because Trump neglected them four years ago, when he actively tried to overturn the results of an election he lost and helped incite a mob that riots at the US Capitol.

But that doesn’t mean Biden isn’t discussing the results privately, even though he says little publicly.

During his six-day visit to Peru and Brazil to meet with world leaders, Biden declined to hold a news conference, which is typically standard procedure for American presidents on such trips. Biden already held much fewer press conferences than his contemporaries.but his staff often points to spontaneous moments when he answers questions from reporters who travel with him everywhere. In this case, he has yet to participate even in impromptu questions and answers on elections or other issues.

Notably, Biden this week gave allies Emmanuel Macron of France and Justin Trudeau of Canada the opportunity to publicly explain their critical decision to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US long-range weapons in its war with Russia.

Biden, for whom Ukraine has been a major focus during his presidencyhad long been concerned about an escalation if the US eased restrictions and was aware of how Moscow might react if he appeared to be beating President Vladimir Putin in the chest. But Ukraine has also become a touchy subject because of Trump, who has said he would end the war immediately and has long expressed admiration for Putin.

The GOP victory—Trump won both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote count, and Republicans won control of Congress—came as the President and Vice President Kamala Harris expressed grave concern about what a Trump presidency might mean. Harris called Trump fascist. Biden told Americans about the very foundation of the nation was at stake, and he said world leaders were worried about it too.

“Every international meeting I’ve been to,” Biden said after traveling to Germany in September, “they take me aside – one leader after another, quietly – and say, ‘Joe, he can’t win.’ My democracy is at stake.”

Raising his voice, Biden then asked: “As America leaves, who will lead the world?” WHO? Tell me the country.”

Perhaps the highlight of his time in South America was his bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru. His public comments at the beginning of this meeting were noticeably more backward than Xi Jinping.leader of America’s most powerful geopolitical rival.

“I’m very proud of the progress we’ve both made together,” Biden said, fondly recalling Xi Jinping’s visit to the Tibetan Plateau many years ago. He added: “We didn’t always agree, but our conversations were always frank and always frank. We never joked with each other. We were on the same level. And I think that’s vitally important.”

Xi Jinping, on the other hand, ignored Biden in his remarks and sought to send a clear message to Trump.

“China is willing to work with the new US administration to maintain ties, expand cooperation and overcome differences, so as to strive for a sustainable transition of China-US relations for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said, while calling on the US leadership to make “wise choices” in governing relationships.

The president also seemed in no mood to talk to reporters throughout his stay in South America. Since Election Day, he has only answered brief questions from the media twice.

In one such exchange, he responded to an Israeli reporter’s question about whether he believed he could negotiate a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip before leaving office with a sarcastic response: “Do you think you can avoid being hit in Gaza? is the camera’s head behind you?

Brief answers and silence did not stop reporters from trying to interest him.

During his time in South America, he ignored questions about his decisions to supply landmines to Ukraine, his thoughts on the election and even why he did not answer questions from the press.

As he prepared to board Air Force One in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday to head home, one reporter even tried to win over the president by pointing out Biden’s 82nd birthday on Wednesday.

“Mr. President, happy early birthday! Would you please speak to us on your birthday, sir?” said the reporter. “As a gift to the press, would you please speak to us? Mr. President! President Biden, please! We haven’t heard from you the entire trip!

Biden boarded the plane without answering.