Joe Biden in 2017: ‘Nobody … More Popular than Me with Working-class People’

Joe Biden told the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in 2017 that “there’s nobody that, in either party, that’s more popular than me with working-class people.”

Biden was speaking at the forum on May 3, 2017, in Los Angeles. His remarks have resurfaced in light of allegations that he met with businessman Tony Bobulinski before his address to discuss a joint venture between his family and a Chinese firm.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News on Tuesday evening, Bobulinski described his one-hour meeting with the former vice president in detail, noting that it contradicted Joe Biden’s previous assertions that he had never discussed the foreign business interests of his son, Hunter, or his brother, James.

At the 2017 conference, Michael Milken, the chairman of the Milken Institute, asked Biden about whether he would run for president in 2020. Biden said that he would not — and joked that he’d be “in a walker” by the time of the election — but also touted his own appeal.

“There’s nobody that, in either party, that’s more popular than me with working-class people. I’m “middle-class Joe.” They told me that for years, and it’s not meant as a compliment in Washington.”

Biden said he was continuing to stay “engaged.” He also said that he could communicate to both the “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party and its more moderate wing.

He described “working-class guys, high school-educated white guys” cheering for his public statements about equal pay for women, and about gay marriage.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.