A revitalised Joe Biden has returned to the campaign trail. The president received a much-needed standing ovation in Las Vegas this afternoon after weeks of criticism and calls to drop out of the race. Biden has appeared before a key sector of his electorate, black voters. He did so just three days after the attack on his rival, Donald Trump, who is leading in the polls. “It’s a tense moment in this country. It’s time to have a serious conversation. Politics is getting too heated,” Biden said at the annual conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The president took the stage in a good mood. He recalled at the start of his speech that Harry Truman was the first president to speak before the NAACP, an organization founded in 1909 after a series of racist riots in Springfield, Illinois. It was not the only time that Biden quoted the 33rd occupant of the White House. He also recalled the famous phrase attributed to him: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” “The last few weeks I know very well what he meant,” Biden added, provoking laughter among those present. “Thank you very much for your support, I also believe that I have supported you,” said the president, who was interrupted in his speech with shouts of “Four more years!, Four more years! (four more years)”.
Continuing the thread of his message from Sunday in the Oval Office, Biden said that all political actors are obliged to lower the spirits after years of polarization. “We must reject violence in all its forms. Violence is not the answer,” he insisted. In his speech he attacked firearms, especially high-powered rifles, such as the one used by Thomas Matthew Crooks on Saturday in his attack. “Support me in getting these weapons off the streets,” he said, referring to legislation that tightens access to weapons, which has been blocked by Republicans and the courts.
Biden said he would not stop speaking “the truth” in his effort to ease the political climate. “The Trump administration was hell for African Americans,” he said, drawing applause. “It tried to repeal health insurance and leave millions of people without coverage, it gave tax breaks to the richest and it blew up the national debt,” he said.
“In the face of peaceful protests following the death of George Floyd, Donald Trump mobilized the National Guard. What the hell is wrong with this man?” Biden said moments after saying he was still praying for the Republican candidate and his family. “This is a man who said Barack Obama wasn’t born here and he wasn’t a citizen… The guy is talking about ‘black jobs.’ I know it’s a black job: the vice presidency of the United States!” he said in reference to Kamala Harris, which provoked a standing ovation. At another point, Biden said that the former senator from California “is not only a great vice president, but she can be president of the United States.”
Biden announced Sunday that he would resume his campaign activities. He does so as opposition delegates are gathered in Wisconsin to support Trump, who has just been designated as the party’s candidate for the third time. “I have no doubt that they will criticize my record and offer their own vision of this country. I will travel this week to explain our results and the vision, my vision of the country, our vision,” he said over the weekend.
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That vision needs African-American voters. They are the sector of the electorate that most strongly rejects Trump. Seven out of ten black people have a bad image of the former president. The percentage, however, has decreased in the last three years, when nine out of ten rejected the Republican.
The NAACP conference, the oldest civil rights organization in the United States, was the president’s first stop in Las Vegas. On Wednesday he will speak at the convention of UNIDOS, an influential Latino organization, another group he needs to stay in the White House.
Nevada is one of seven battleground states heading into the November election. The Democratic candidate is trailing in this state by between five and seven points in three recent polls. Trump also leads Biden in the polling average. The unfavorable numbers have caused the Democratic campaign to increase its presence in the state. Vice President Harris has visited Nevada six times so far in 2024. The last two trips have been after the disastrous first presidential debate.
Biden led the NAACP’s activities on Tuesday, which have been meeting in Las Vegas since Wednesday of last week. This afternoon’s event was a new gesture since the president made a gesture for the black community in May. The president posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran who fought against segregation and lynching in Mississippi as a member of the organization and who was shot in the back at the age of 37 in June 1963.
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