After weeks of intra-party turmoil and challenges to his leadership, President Joe Biden started his rally in Detroit by turning to the supporters behind him and offering an apology: "Excuse my back!" he said.
The crowd in the battleground state of Michigan sent him back laughter and love: "We got your back! We got your back! We got your back!"
Biden beamed. "I’ve got your back!" he said.
At his latest stop on a campaign that has become about rebuilding his image among voters and concerned Democratic allies, Biden sought to sound the alarm on Donald Trump’s expected policies — and set himself up as the person best able to shut them down.
He laid out plans for his first 100 days of a second term in the White House, laid bare an overview of a far-right agenda to restructure government in case of a Trump presidency, and laid low his political opponent with a series of insults.
"I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how, and I’ve demonstrated how, to do this job. And I know Americans want a president, not a dictator," Biden said.
"And I also know no self-respecting American president would ever ever ever be [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s puppy, like this guy is," Biden added of Trump.
Biden rallies as Democrats roil
Biden’s remarks come only days before the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee, where Trump is expected to be coronated as the GOP’s next presidential nominee.
Trump is currently experiencing a run of political strength, largely on the back of Biden’s weak showing at the first presidential debate more than two weeks ago. Though Trump responded to questions that evening with rambling, indirect answers and a slew of falsehoods, Biden sounded confused and meandering, particularly in early moments of the debate.
Biden’s showing set off a firestorm among Democrats, and a growing chorus has called for him to step away from the contest (with the occasional odd duck asking him to leave the White House immediately, as well). So far, more than 20 House Democrats and one U.S. Senator have asked for Biden to leave the race for the White House. Democratic megadonors, like celebrity fundraiser George Clooney, have called for Biden to step aside, asserting that a Democratic victory is impossible with Biden atop the ticket.
But the 81-year-old president has been defiant, running a gauntlet this week in hosting the 75th anniversary of the formation of NATO, followed by a highly-publicized press conference Thursday night.
While Biden Thursday flashed his policy chops in responses to reporter questions, and asserted that Vice President Kamala Harris is more than capable of stepping up as president when needed ("She’s day one ready," he said), he also tripped himself early. Biden blended Harris’s name with that of his rival, accidentally stating that he "would not have chosen Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified."
Shining a spotlight on Trump’s "free pass"
Trump, 78, has been prone to the same errors throughout this election cycle. In a recent rally, he bragged about his own cognitive exams before getting his own personal White House physician’s name wrong, while in previous rallies he has confused the name of the city and state he’s visiting, confused Biden’s name for Obama’s, misstated the country of origin for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and once confused Jeb Bush for his brother, former President George W. Bush. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign even launched its own tracker to publicize Trump’s errors.
Biden’s mistakes have stuck in the public consciousness in a way that they simply haven’t for Trump, and led to increased fears about his age, his fitness to perform the duties of the presidency and his overall electability. Trump, he said, has been granted a "free pass" from the media
Trump, Biden said, has gotten a "free pass" from the media. But today, Biden promised to put a spotlight on his rival.
"He’s been rambling about Hannibal Lecter, says he’s a nice guy. Trump said he’d rather been electrocuted than eaten by a shark...he can’t even watch TV this week because it’s Shark Week," Biden quipped. Trump, he noted, called Putin a "genius" and "savvy" after the invasion of Ukraine began. And Trump also confused former GOP rival Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a rally in January.
His barrage only intensified from there, as he ran off a series of facts: that Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts for paying hush money to a porn star and trying to hide it; that Trump was found liable for sexual assault in a civil trial; that Trump lost his license to do business in New York state, has been fined more than $400 million for dishonest business dealings, and faces still more felony charges for allegedly mishandling classified information, for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and for alleged election interference in Georgia.
Plus, he charged, Trump is a terrible businessman.
"He’s filed bankruptcy six times! He even went bankrupt running a casino," Biden cracked. "I didn’t think that was possible — doesn’t the house always win at a casino?"
Project 2025 vs. Biden’s second First 100 Days
Biden turned serious as he tied Trump to Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-backed ultra-conservative plan to reshape the federal government should Trump win the presidency. Trump has disavowed the project, saying he knows nothing about it.
"He’s trying to distance himself, just like he’s trying to distance himself from overturning Roe v. Wade, because he knows how toxic it is," Biden said.
Project 2025 lays out a number of proposals, inclduing plans to reshape civil service to install party loyalty at all levels and positions of government work; to criminalize shipping abortion medications; to eliminate popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act; to cut the entire Department of Education; and to round up immigrants and put them in detention camps.
"Project 2025 is the biggest attack on our system of government and on our personal freedom that has ever been proposed in the history of this country," Biden said. It’s time for us to stop treating politics like its entertainment or reality TV. Another four years of Donald Trump is serious, deadly serious."
"We all know it’s not enough to be against something. You’ve gotta be for something," Biden said, laying out his plan for the first 100 days of his next term: promises to sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Freedom to Vote Act and a bill restoring the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade. He also pledged to protect, expand and strengthen Social Security and Medicare; to end medical debt; to raise the federal minimum wage; to pass the union-protecting PRO Act; to ban assault weapons; and to "keep leading the world — we are! — on climate and clean energy."
He also pledged to restore and make permanent the childcare tax credit, to lower the cost of prescription drugs, to cap rent increases and end tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations. "You know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna make billionaires…pay a minimum tax of 25%," Biden said.
Earlier in the speech, Biden reiterated a pledge he’s been making since discontent began rumbling after the debate — that he plans to stay in the race. (Which workd for the crowd, who minutes before chanted "don't you quit!" toward Biden.)
"I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party, the only Democrat or Republican that has beaten Donald Trump, ever, and I’m gonna beat him again. I know him," Biden said, before delivering one of his opponent's favorite epithets.
"Donald Trump is a loser," Biden proclaimed, and the crowd erupted.