LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Joe Biden On Tuesday, he returned to the campaign trail. Assassination attempt Donald Trump’s speech continues to call for taming divisive rhetoric on both sides of the aisle, but he also insists that doing so “doesn’t mean we should stop telling the truth” about his Republican rival.
Speaking at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention in Las Vegas, Biden said curbing political violence in the country requires combating bloodshed of all kinds, including reducing police brutality and banning weapons like the AR-style rifles used in the weekend attack on the former president.
“Our politics have become too heated,” Biden said.
But that didn’t stop Biden from slamming Trump, listing reasons why the former president’s administration had been “hell” for black Americans, including his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, early lockdowns that led to soaring unemployment and, in Biden’s words, attempts to erase black history.
“Just because we need to turn down the temperature on the politics of violence doesn’t mean we should stop telling the truth,” Biden told the crowd, who often chanted “Four more years!”
The president wants to demonstrate his administration’s support for black voters, who are the backbone of the Democratic coalition and his own political allies. As part of his campaign in Nevada, he will give an interview to BET and speak to UnidosUS, another important Democratic-leaning group, a Hispanic advocacy group.
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Speaking to NAACP supporters, Biden brought up Trump’s recent reference to “black jobs” and joked, “I love that phrase,” to loud applause.
“I know what a Black person’s job is: Vice President of the United States,” Biden said of Vice President Kamala Harris, adding that “Harris could be president.” He also cited Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, and his appointment of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Biden’s visit comes as Democrats have been mired in a crisis of confidence over his candidacy for weeks after his disastrous debate defeat against Trump last month. The president’s shaky performance intensified voter concerns about his age, his fitness to serve and whether he could beat Trump again.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party has shown itself more united around Trump than ever before. National Convention in Milwaukee.
Biden, 81, Rejected Amid growing calls from within his party for him to resign, he reiterated his claim that he is the Democrat best positioned to defeat Trump. Heavily depended on He has garnered support from black and Latino elected officials and was scheduled to speak alongside many of them in Nevada.
The president on Tuesday indirectly addressed the unrest within his own party, recalling President Harry S. Truman’s famous line, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”
“I’ve learned over the last few weeks what he means,” Biden said, before adding, “Hopefully, as you get older, you get a little wiser.”
Biden also pledged to use the first 100 days of his second term to oversee Congress’ approval of a major expansion of voting rights that has so far eluded him, and said he was working with states to help people clear unpaid medical bills for a “nominal amount,” renewing an earlier promise to “eliminate health care debt.”
“I know that God has brought us this far and He’s not going to abandon us now,” Biden said at the convention, taking a decidedly religious tone.
Trump has sought to capitalize on Biden’s declining approval ratings by appealing to both black and Latino voters. Uncertain Some have suggested that a loss of enthusiasm for Biden has led to Trump’s rise among these demographics, but even a slight drop in Biden’s support could have a decisive effect in a close election.
Trump and his campaign suspended their criticism of Trump in the wake of a shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday that left the Republican nominee with an ear injury, one rally attendee dead and two more seriously injured.
in Oval Office Address Biden on Sunday night called on Americans to reject political violence and for political leaders to “show calm.” In an interview with NBC News on Monday, he said: error He told campaign donors he wanted to “hit the bullseye” on Trump but argued his opponent’s rhetoric was more inflammatory.
“Look, when the president says things like he does, the threat to democracy is real, so how do you talk about it? Do you not say anything because it might provoke somebody?” Biden said.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, avoided questions about whether Biden should step down as the Democratic nominee and whether the president, who often says he owes his place in the Oval Office to black voters, could still galvanize people to vote for his candidacy.
Johnson instead focused on the need for black voters to hear “solutions” to the issues that are of greatest concern to the black community in this election: inflation, education and civil rights violations.
“Whoever is in the White House next term, we want to focus on their policy goals,” Johnson said, adding that black voters would reject candidates who “care about personalities and slogans.”
Later, at an economic summit hosted by Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford on the campus of the College of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas, Biden announced that local housing authorities and city governments would receive $50 million in federal grants to build 400 units of affordable housing, highlighting his efforts to lower rents in a state where housing costs have become a hot political issue.
The president also spoke about his administration’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the heatwave on workers, while slamming his opponents in the November election.
“Trump says he doesn’t believe climate change is real. Maybe he should go barefoot in Las Vegas where it’s 120 degrees,” Biden said as the crowd booed.
Biden has also proposed limiting rent increases to 5% for tenants in homes owned by landlords with 50 or more units, which would prevent landlords from receiving some of their tax breaks if they increase rents any more. But that would require Congressional approval, which Biden is unlikely to get with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Trump has also used Nevada to push for new economic policies, saying he would end taxes on tips received by workers in the service-based state, an idea backed by Nevada’s Democratic senators, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto.
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Miller reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Matt Brown and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
