Joe Biden thinks Republicans will have a bipartisan 'epiphany' once Trump leaves office

Joe Biden has a pretty unrealistic vision for a post-President Trump world.

In a Tuesday visit to New Hampshire, the former vice president turned 2020 candidate launched an ambitious prediction at some unsuspecting cafe patrons. Once a Democrat beats Trump in 2020, Biden said Republicans will have "an epiphany" and start working with Democrats again, Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur reports.

Biden's lofty assertion was quickly slammed on Twitter as "detached from reality," and met with reminders of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) existence. Politico's Jake Sherman did concede that McConnell and Biden worked out some deals during former President Barack Obama's terms, but tweeted that there is "maybe less than zero" chance that will happen this time around.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

McClatchy reporter Alex Roarty also pointed out that Biden's statement is not unlike Obama's 2012 prediction that when he won that year's presidential election, the Republicans' "fever may break" and they may move toward "cooperation." As is clear from the GOP's on-again, off-again attempts to first block and now remake ObamaCare, that didn't quite work out.