“I promise you I’m fine.” The phrase doesn’t have the evocative power of Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can,” Bill Clinton’s “bridge to the 21st century,” or Ronald Reagan’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, later plagiarized by Donald Trump. Yet it is exactly what Joe Biden, 81, needs to convey right now: “I promise you I’m fine.” After the NATO summit, the US president stopped on Friday at the Garage Grill and Fuel Bar in Northville, Michigan, a roadside bar in a state that could prove decisive in the November 5 election.
Biden took the microphone and began to walk among the dozens of customers in the bar. For once, he was campaigning without the teleprompter He constantly uses this in his public speeches. He spoke for almost a quarter of an hour, made the audience laugh from time to time, returned to some of his traditional themes, used his catchphrases, joked about his age and seemed to feel comfortable. He presented himself as the most pro-union president in the history of the United States (not far from there he participated in a picket during the automobile strike last year) and reviewed some of his policies in favor of the middle class and workers.
“That’s why I’m running, to finish this job. There’s more to do. I know I’m only 41,” he joked, before recalling that for too long he was “too young,” when he won his first Senate election before even turning 30, the age requirement. “I’m too old now. Hopefully, with age comes a little wisdom. I think the alternative is to be a little more young.” [en referencia a Donald Trump] “It’s not a great alternative. I think ethics matter. I think decency matters,” he added, before closing. “I have never been more optimistic about America’s chances than I am today,” he said. “We have real opportunities. We have to finish the job. I promise you that I am fine,” he concluded.
Joe Biden is willing to show that what happened in the debate against Donald Trump was an accident that does not compromise his ability to govern, but first he has to show his coreligionists that it does not compromise his ability to win the elections against Donald Trump. “They told us we were going to lose in 2020. Do you remember? Well, we won,” Biden also said.
Four years ago, Barack Obama’s former vice president got off to a bad start in the primaries before turning things around in South Carolina. However, he always had a wide lead over Donald Trump in the polls. This year, the former president is ahead in voting intentions nationwide and in most of the decisive states.
Michigan is one of them. The state has a large Arab-American community that rejects the way Biden has supported Israel in the Gaza war. There are many voters who do not want to vote for him, even if it means handing the presidency to Donald Trump, whose support for Israel is much more radical and who contemptuously calls Biden a “Palestinian.”
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Biden’s electoral chances, according to his strategists, depend on building a “blue wall” – the colour of the Democratic Party – in the key Midwestern states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. If Biden were able to retain those three, he could afford to lose Georgia, Arizona and Nevada and still win the election, provided that Trump did not spring a surprise in any other constituency.
Biden, however, is not giving up on fighting in those three southern states. In fact, next week he will have two campaign events in Las Vegas (Nevada), one with African-American voters and another with Latinos. Before that, however, he needs to clear up any doubts among Democrats, get money flowing into his campaign again and stop the news from being about whether he is capable of being the candidate or whether a replacement should be sought.
For skeptical Democrats, the situation presents a dilemma. If Biden is not going to throw in the towel, the sooner they close ranks, the better chance he has of beating Trump. But if they close ranks, he will not step aside, and many of them believe that condemns them to a disastrous electoral scenario, in which Republicans can simultaneously take control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“I’m running and we’re going to win”
At the rally he held later in Detroit, Biden was energetic. This time with the help of screens, but occasionally going off-script. He bluntly addressed speculation about his future: “There’s a lot of speculation right now. What is Joe going to do, is he going to stay?” he asked before answering: “I’m running and we’re going to win,” he said as the crowd chanted: “Don’t back down!”
“You made me the nominee,” Biden said, referring to the millions of Democrats who supported him in the primaries. “Not the press, not the pundits, not the experts, not the donors. You, the voters. You decided. Nobody else. And I’m not going anywhere.”
“I am the nominee of the Democratic Party and the only Democrat to ever beat Donald Trump. I know him. Donald Trump is a loser,” he added, as the crowd chanted “Lock him up,” the phrase Trump supporters once used to say to Hillary Clinton. Biden made no comments, but reiterated: “When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
The president then lashed out at Project 2025, which Trump distances himself from, but which has been developed by people close to the former president who could be part of his government. Some consider it to be Trump’s hidden agenda. Meanwhile, the president outlined his plans for a hypothetical second term, saying: “I don’t work for big pharma. I don’t work for the National Rifle Association. I work for you, the American people,” provoking applause from his supporters.
Biden complained that the media has been “hammering” him since their recent debate while Trump “has gotten a free pass.” “Donald, no more free passes,” Biden said. “Today, we’re going to put Donald Trump in the spotlight,” he said. At the Republican’s rallies, he often lashes out at the press and attendees start booing the journalists present. This time, the same thing happened for a few moments, but at a Biden rally.
The president then continued his attacks on his rival, whom he considers a threat to the United States. “He inherited millions of dollars only to squander them. He has declared bankruptcy six times,” Biden said. “He even went bankrupt running a casino. I didn’t think that was possible. Doesn’t the house always win in a casino?”
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