Why Joe Biden Is The Man To Save Us From Trump

As Democrats are preparing for the end of their tenure in the White House, many have already set their sights set on 2020. The next four years will be spent strategizing how to win back the White House — and there may already be a candidate up for the task. Based on comments to reporters on Monday, many are wondering if Joe Biden could lead Democrats to the White House come 2020. Could he be the one to beat presumed incumbent Donald Trump? His years of service and high favorability ratings point to yes.

Biden announced his openness to running for president first as a joke, telling reporters, "Yeah, I am. I'm going to run in 2020." Reporters asked "run for what?" to which Biden responded, "For president. What the hell, man." The vice president then turned a bit more serious and said, "I'm not committing not to run. I'm not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago fate has a strange way of intervening."

Biden never entered the 2016 race, but many had hoped he would — and he himself said in January he "regretted" not entering. He officially announced in October 2015 that he would not be pursuing the nomination, in large part due to the death of his son Beau from brain cancer just months earlier.

As his time as vice president dwindled, Biden start charting a course for his post-White House life, which would focus on cancer research. But now, after Monday's remarks, it seems like Biden hasn't completely turned his back on the political game. And he's not the craziest option for presidential candidate. Not crazier than say, a billionaire reality TV star with zero political experience, at least.

Biden has been in politics for more than 40 years. He was elected Delaware senator in 1972 at 29 years old, and held the position for the next 36 years, until he left to serve as Vice President. During his time in the Senate, Biden served on and at times led the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, and introduced the bill that would become the Violence Against Women Act. He definitely has the political acumen to serve as president, especially after spending the last eight years in the White House.

Uncle Joe is also well-liked, the importance of which can't be overstated. Just before the election, Biden's favorability rating hit a high of 56 percent, which had leveled off to about 50 percent as of last month, according to the Huffington Post. He is known for his love of ice cream and aviator sunglasses, which sounds silly, but being unrelatable was a constant ding against Hillary Clinton in this election.

Arguably, the biggest downside to a Biden run is his age. The vice president turned 74 last month, so he would be 78 if he were to assume office in 2021, which would make him the oldest sitting president. Trump is 70 and Clinton is 69, and there was a lot of talk about whether they were too old for the job, so some may want a younger person on the Democratic ticket, like Cory Booker or Kirsten Gillibrand.

Though the DNC is undoubtedly already planning for 2020, it is a long way off and we can't know for sure if Biden will still seriously consider a run in a few years. Still, Democrats already know they are going to want a candidate that isn't afraid to fight Trump — and Biden would certainly fit that bill.