Biden, on ‘The View,’ Calls Trump a ‘Loser’ Who Lacks ‘Redeeming Value’

President Biden became the first sitting president to appear live on “The View.” He said he was “at peace” with his decision not to run again.

President Biden on Wednesday delivered a blunt assessment of the character of his predecessor, telling the hosts of “The View” on ABC that “there’s not a lot of socially redeeming value” to former President Donald J. Trump. Asked if he would have won if he stayed in the presidential race, Mr. Biden replied: “Yes. I was confident I would beat Trump. He’s a loser.”

But in an appearance that was part personal, part policy and part political, Mr. Biden said he was “at peace” with his decision not to run again. He also made an enthusiastic pitch for Vice President Kamala Harris: “She is smart as hell, No. 1,” he said. He added that “she’s tough, she’s honorable, and the thing I like about her — and one thing we share in common — is that we have an optimistic view in the future.”

Mr. Biden’s appearance on the “The View,” his 10th, was the first time a sitting president has appeared live on the show. His first appearance was when he was a senator in 2007. In 2010, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to appear on the show with a recorded interview.

The president’s turn parrying questions from the six hosts of “The View” was one of a series of New York farewells for Mr. Biden. On Tuesday, he delivered his fourth and final address to the U.N. General Assembly. On Wednesday evening, the president and the first lady, Jill Biden, hosted a reception for world leaders at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As he did at the United Nations on Tuesday, Mr. Biden used his remarks at the Met to capture the arc of his 50-year political career, from his mother’s advice — “Joey, remember never bow, never bend, never yield and never give up” — to a scene of him standing on the Tibetan Plateau with President Xi Jinping of China.

“He said, can you define America for me?” Mr. Biden recalled. “I said, yes, in one word: Possibilities. Possibilities. We believe anything is possible.”

To that end, Mr. Biden said on “The View” that he still believed peace was possible in the Middle East, but also conceded that “all-out war is possible.” But he issued a pointed warning about what American foreign policy would look like under a second Trump presidency, saying, that Mr. Trump “fails to understand the value of partners, the value of alliances, the value of bringing the world together.”

Mr. Biden sought to put a positive spin on his decision to step aside. He said he had entered office expecting to be a “transition president” but decided to stay on because he was having “so much success in getting things done that people thought we couldn’t get done,” that he took longer “than I would have ordinarily” to pass the torch.

He insisted that his relationship with Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, who was instrumental in pushing Mr. Biden out of the race, was fine. And he said he “never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance” on the part of Democrats to have him run against Mr. Trump. He insisted his polling was “always within range of beating this guy.”

He also made the usual jokes about his age. Looking at Alyssa Farah Griffin, a host, he said: “I know you’re only 30, but it’s hard to think of — it’s hard for me to even say how old I am. No, I’m serious. I give you my word. It’s like, holy God, that can’t be right, this can’t be right … No woman close to me is as old as I am. None.” To which Whoopi Goldberg, another host, interjected, “Right now they are!”

Later, during a commercial break, an ABC employee pointed out that there was a 95-year-old woman in the audience. Mr. Biden flashed her a thumbs-up and said he wanted to meet her.

Mr. Biden received an enthusiastic welcome from the show’s hosts, but none more enthusiastic than from Whoopi Goldberg, who said she did not like the way Democrats had treated him and likened Mr. Trump to “a bug” that kept buzzing around and would not go away.

“I’m going to just say it out loud, because nobody says it out loud,” she said. “I didn’t like the way it was done publicly.”

To Mr. Biden she said, “You were my ride or die,” adding, “I just want to say thank you, but thank you for everything you’ve done in my entire lifetime.”