Bill De Blasio Tells Fox News Dems ‘Wanted to Believe’ Biden was Cognitively Capable of Being President: ‘We Were Wrong’

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told Fox News on Thursday that he and other Democrats “wanted to believe” former President Joe Biden was up to the task of serving as president for longer than he did.

On America’s Newsroom, de Blasio told network anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino that wishful thinking led the party to support a second Biden term after it was clear he was suffering from cognitive decline.

The former mayor said his party should have held a primary last year rather than let Biden run for a second term.

After Hemmer said the progressive movement was currently sidelined after the GOP won the White House and then the Senate and retained the House after last November, de Blasio disagreed.

“The progressive movement was strong when we were talking about things like health care that people needed, making college more affordable, higher minimum wage,” he said. “Unfortunately, 2024, we didn’t have that message bluntly.”

Perino then asked, “Did you think President Biden was up to the job mentally?

The former Democratic presidential candidate replied, “You know, I’m going to be confessional here, Dana. I, like so many other Democrats, wanted to believe, and we were wrong, and we should have been more critical.”

Perino asked, “Do you think you were lied to?” De Blasio replied:

I don’t think I was lied to. I think it was magical thinking. We wanted to believe what we wanted to believe. I think, sure, not everyone will agree. I think he did some very good things as president. But it was clear that he was not the same person towards the end of the term.

When asked about Democrats supporting Biden until last summer, de Blasio said, “It hurt a lot.” He added:

I think a lot of people felt betrayed. But I am also saying all of us need to accept some responsibility because he did, in my view. He governed well on many levels, but he was not ready to continue for four more years. We should have just come to grips with that. I think if we had had an open process, if it was, “Here’s an anointed candidate, but we actually had a process,” we would have had a stronger candidate.

Watch above via Fox News.