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Joe Biden Might Run For President After All ... But Only Under One Condition

by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert
Mark Wilson/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Joe Biden's possible bid for presidency still has "will he, won't he?" questions surrounding it, but a new update suggests that the former vice president could be giving it some serious thought. In private meetings with possible campaign contributors, Biden reportedly said he'd run for president in 2020, reported Fox Business. But, only under one condition: if President Trump runs for reelection. Unless Trump has had enough of running the country, a Biden-Trump race could be one scenario that plays out in 2020. Bustle has reached out to Biden's representative for comment.

Biden supposedly commented on his highly-speculated run while meeting with Democratic contributors, according to Wall Street sources who spoke with Fox Business. Although the decision is still up in the air, the sources claimed Biden may pose himself as an alternative to Trump because of their close similarities in age. Trump is 71 years old; Biden is 75. In November 2016, Trump surpassed Ronald Reagan as the oldest elected president.

If Trump decided to step down from the Oval Office, or if a younger Republican challenger came up, such as Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, then Biden would reportedly have second thoughts about seeking the presidency, the sources added.

So far, signs point to Trump running again for president and his campaigning efforts have already begun. Trump filed paperwork for his reelection on Jan. 20, 2017 — an unusually early move since this was his first day on the job. In comparison, Obama did not begin his reelection campaign until he completed his first two years in office.

In addition to filling out the necessary paperwork, Trump has also been fundraising for the past year. Last year he raised $22 million in cash. More than half of the donations to the Trump reelection campaign came from contributors who donated less than $200.

Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and adviser to his reelection campaign, said in a statement to Reuters: “Never before has a president’s campaign committee raised so much in his first year in office, and never has a president enjoyed so much support from small donors who continue to rally around him."

Trump didn't stop there, however. On Feb. 28, the president announced that Brad Parscale, the digital director of his 2016 campaign, would take over the Trump 2020 reelection campaign. In 2016 Parscale worked on advertising Trump's campaign aggressively on Facebook and social media. The new Trump campaign manager also had connections to Cambridge Analytica, the data firm Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, hired to take over the 2016 campaign’s data operations. Cambridge Analytica gained notoriety recently when it was revealed it gained access to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users. But during an interview on 60 Minutes, Parscale denied the company was of any use.

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Should the former vice president run for election against Trump, his campaign team would have to up its social media game. As Parscale said in his 60 Minutes profile, “I understood very early that Facebook was how Trump was going to win. I think we used it better than anyone ever had in history.”

Biden 2020 has been an ongoing speculation, but it's also possible that Biden will lose interest in running at all by the time 2020 rolls around. Obama's former right-hand man already launched two unsuccessful bids for presidency in 1987 and 2007. After an extensive political career, multiple presidential campaigns, and eight years in the White House as vice president, some may wonder whether Biden — who would be turning 78 in the next election year — will still be as enthusiastic about leading another presidential campaign.

A recent interview indicates that Biden's primary focus is the 2018 midterm elections. "I'm focused on one thing: electing a Democratic Congress to stop this erosion of the core of who we are," Biden said to NBC. "I'll look at that a year from now. I have plenty of time to consider whether or not to run."