The revelations unearthed in several new books by political journalists—conveniently published after the election—confirm that these suspicions and assumptions were correct.
"[L]et’s be honest, Jill was a thousand percent behind this," a Biden ally told journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, authors of Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House. "So, she was pushing it. The staff was all pushing it. At the end of the day, I don’t think anyone in that inner circle was presenting the president any contrary advice that this thing is not going to be easy or maybe this is not the best thing for the Democratic Party."
Allen and Parnes note that many of Joe Biden's longtime aides were also desperate to cling to power, and refused to consider advising the president to retire after a single term. "Nobody walks away from this," senior adviser Mike Donilon reportedly told a prominent Democrat. "No one walks away from the house, the plane, the helicopter." This burning desire to retain the perks of the White House, the authors explain, was "doubly true for the first lady." Dr. Jill had enjoyed them for nearly a decade, and "the trappings of the most elite levels of Washington power had grown on her." The reporting confirms what presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said about Jill Biden in February 2024: "She likes power. She wants to stay. She wants some sense of revenge."