India, May 14 -- Back in May 2019, Joe Biden made a bold promise to voters in New Hampshire. If Donald Trump lost the White House, he said, Republicans would have a change of heart and start working with Democrats again. "The thing that will fundamentally change things is with Donald Trump out of the White House. Not a joke," Biden told reporters. "You will see an epiphany occur among many ofd my Republican friends." He repeated the same prediction months later at a Washington fundraiser, insisting that Republican lawmakers were only sticking with Trump out of fear, not genuine loyalty.

But many Democrats and political observers were skeptical even then. Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau wrote: "I would wager that not even most Biden...