Category: Joe Biden

Republicans are lying about Biden and hoping voters are ignorant enough to believe them

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TRAILING IN the polls, and with no tangible agenda for a second term, President Trump is doing his best to tear down Democratic nominee Joe Biden. That’s hardly an unprecedented strategy, and some of the policy-based arguments being advanced by speakers at the Republican National Convention this week fall within the normal bounds of campaign debate, even if some of the hyperbole is beyond those bounds. Mr. Biden, it’s said, will be controlled by the Democratic left; he will raise taxes; he will be too soft on China.

There is another strand of the attacks, however, that is as depraved as it is scurrilous. The Trump campaign is attempting to portray Mr. Biden and his family as neck-deep in corruption, based on allegations that have repeatedly been demonstrated to be false. In effect, the Republicans accuse the former vice president of secretly doing what Mr. Trump has accomplished overtly during the past three years — using his office to enrich himself and his family.

Leading the GOP charge on Tuesday was Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who in 2013 received a $25,000 contribution from a Trump charity six days after her office said it was looking into fraud charges against Trump University. The investigation did not go forward. Incredibly, Ms. Bondi opened her case against Mr. Biden by repeating the lie that led to Mr. Trump’s impeachment: that Mr. Biden demanded the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating a gas company that employed the then-vice president’s son Hunter.

Coronavirus concerns fall and Trump approval ticks higher in swing states, CNBC/Change Research poll finds

Voters’ concerns about the coronavirus have fallen and President Donald Trump’s approval rating has ticked higher in six swing states over the last two weeks, according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll. 

Still, the improvement has not helped the president overcome a polling deficit against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 

In Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, 66% of likely voters said they have serious concerns about Covid-19, the survey released Wednesday found. The share fell from 69% in a poll taken two weeks earlier. The share of respondents who said they have “very serious” concerns about the coronavirus dropped to 45% from 49%.  Continue reading.

Trump revives 2016 playbook for Biden battle

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President Trump is embracing a similar playbook to the one that guided him to a surprise victory in 2016, hoping the same strategy will win him reelection in November.

In both 2016 and the closing months of the 2020 campaign, his messaging has focused heavily on his base, he has made near-daily media appearances to drive the news cycle, he has used law and order and the fear of violence in cities to motivate voters, and he has accused his opponents of corruption.

The strategy proved successful four years ago, and he appears poised to rely on a comparable formula with just 70 days until Election Day. That approach was on full display Monday in a roughly hourlong speech in which Trump blasted the media, torched “weak” Democratic leaders for their handling of protesters and reiterated his belief that he can lose in November only if there’s a “rigged election,” even as allies acknowledge mail-in ballots are safe. Continue reading.

More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers endorse Joe Biden on first day of GOP convention

WWASHINGTON — More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers announced Monday they are endorsing Joe Biden for president.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and former Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania are among those throwing their support behind the Democratic presidential nominee through “Republicans for Biden,” and the endorsements come on the morning of the first day of the Republican National Convention.

Biden has repeatedly emphasized Republican support as he looks to build a broad coalition in his campaign against President Donald Trump. Continue reading.

‘He’s going to be unleashed’: Republican DOJ appointees urge against Trump second term

The officials said they’re backing Joe Biden in the hope of restoring “basic honesty and integrity.”

A group of onetime Republican presidential appointees who served as senior ethics or Justice Department aides are endorsing Joe Biden for president, warning that Donald Trump has “weaponized” the executive branch and is putting in peril the legitimacy of the Justice Department.

“I think a lot of us are extremely alarmed, frankly, at the threat of autocracy,” Donald B. Ayer, former deputy attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration, said in an interview with POLITICO. “He’s going to be unleashed if he gets a second term. I don’t know what’s going to stop him.”

The former officials endorsing Tuesday served under the Reagan, H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations. Continue reading.

Biden and Harris push back on GOP attacks in their first joint TV interview

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Joe Biden and Kamala D. Harris on Sunday night pushed back on accusations that they would defund police departments and increase taxes on the middle class or that the presidential nominee is facing mental decline, three narratives that Republicans have promoted and are expected to focus on as their convention begins Monday.

In the Democratic duo’s first joint television interview, aired Sunday night on ABC, Biden reiterated his support for increasing funding to police departments — and noted that President Trump’s budget would cut grants to local law enforcement.

“I don’t want to defund police departments. I think they need more help, they need more assistance,” Biden said. His policing plan, which has been criticized by more liberal elements of his party, would give $300 million more to departments for community policing efforts. Continue reading.

ICYMI: Statement by Vice President Joe Biden on the Shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin

“Yesterday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back as police attempted to restrain him from getting into his car. His children watched from inside the car and bystanders watched in disbelief. And this morning, the nation wakes up yet again with grief and outrage that yet another Black American is a victim of excessive force. This calls for an immediate, full and transparent investigation and the officers must be held accountable. These shots pierce the soul of our nation. Jill and I pray for Jacob’s recovery and for his children. Equal justice has not been real for Black Americans and so many others. We are at an inflection point. We must dismantle systemic racism. It is the urgent task before us. We must fight to honor the ideals laid in the original American promise, which we are yet to attain: That all men and women are created equal, but more importantly that they must be treated equally.” 

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Stakes high for Supreme Court as Trump battles for reelection

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President Trump has a chance to transform the Supreme Court into a conservative supermajority if he wins another four-year term, underscoring the potential stakes of this year’s election for future court decisions on everything from the Second Amendment to abortion.

If reelected, Trump would likely get the opportunity to replace ailing liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, and possibly fellow liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, 82, which would give conservatives a commanding 6-3 or 7-2 majority. It would also move the court’s fulcrum to the right of its current ideological center, Chief Justice John Roberts, whose stewardship of the court is seen by some conservatives with increasing skepticism.

At the same time, a Democratic win in November could lead to a dramatic reshaping in the opposite direction. A Biden administration might get the chance to field a liberal replacement for conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, 72. He is currently the longest-serving member of the court, and his 28-year tenure is beyond the typical length of service. Continue reading.

Dark vs. light: Trump declares himself the only barrier to ‘anarchy, madness and chaos’

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It took less than 14 hours for President Trump to reinforce the central theme of former vice president Joe Biden’s Democratic convention acceptance speech.

Biden’s speech centered on an unsubtle contrast: the choice between light and dark.

“I give you my word,” Biden said. “If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light, not of the darkness.” Continue reading.

A Week That Was Disastrous For Trump, Miraculous For Biden

Tens of thousands of news cases of COVID-19 are diagnosed in the United States every day, but if you listen to President Donald Trump, it’s easy to forget the pandemic is still raging. He shows little interest. He’s more focused, as ever, on his own personal grievances. Of course, he has the luxury of not worrying much about the virus when his job is secured — at least through January — and everyone around him is subjected to a rigorous testing regime that people at most U.S. schools and workplaces can only dream of.

As the Democratic Party carried out its national convention this week, Trump continued to give in to his self-destructive impulses. It made for a particularly stark contrast. Most of former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign had been carried out under the radar — he hasn’t simply been hiding in his basement, as critics claim, but he hasn’t been clamoring for the spotlight — but it burst on to the national stage for two-plus hours of primetime for four nights in a row. And while the Democrats were, for the most part, organized and professional, Trump was crawling out of his skin at the thought of ceding the country’s attention.

So instead of letting Democrats bask in the traditional uninterrupted flow of media attention given during presidential nominating conventions, Trump demanded to be seen. Continue reading.