RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 President Biden has been trying out a new riff on the campaign trail, aiming to seize on a growing vulnerability facing Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everyone is not feeling the enthusiasm,\u201d Biden said Tuesday at a fundraiser in Raleigh, part of a multistate campaign tour this month. \u201cThe other day, a defeated guy came up to me and said, \u2018Mr. President, I\u2019m being crushed by debt \u2014 completely wiped out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused before delivering the punchline: \u201cI had to look at him and say, \u2018Sorry Donald, I can\u2019t help you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The joke, which Biden has told repeatedly in recent days, is emblematic of his campaign\u2019s effort to flip the script on the presidential race since the State of the Union address. With rapid-fire fundraising, busy campaigning and jabs at Trump\u2019s finances, Biden is trying to reverse the perception that his campaign is flagging and suggest it is Trump who is the feeble figure.<\/p>\n
The coming weeks will clarify how successful the push has been. A CNBC poll released Tuesday found Biden gaining ground: He had pulled about even with Trump, with 45 percent of support to the former president\u2019s 46 percent \u2014 within the poll\u2019s margin of error \u2014 after lagging by 42-48 in December.<\/p>\n
Before the State of the Union, a growing number of Democrats were voicing anxiety over Biden\u2019s age (he is 81 and Trump is 77), the ubiquitous protests over his Gaza policy and polls that showed him trailing Trump in key states. Now, he is using a stepped-up campaign schedule to build a substantial fundraising advantage as Trump struggles with his personal and political finances.<\/p>\n
Biden attacked Trump multiple times during a speech in Raleigh on Tuesday that was ostensibly focused on health care but included jabs against \u201cmy predecessor\u201d on issues ranging from taxes to the Supreme Court. Biden accused Trump of seeking to \u201ctake us back to when cancer patients were cut off from insurance halfway through chemo\u201d due to coverage caps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sick,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Aides have also amped up their rhetoric, while adding an edge to it \u2014 referring to Trump as \u201cBroke Don\u201d or \u201cLow-energy Don.\u201d Beyond the finances, they are increasingly ridiculing Trump in more direct and personal ways, taking aim at his slower campaign pace and verbal flubs.<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s joke about his opponent being \u201ccompletely wiped out\u201d is the closest he has come to commenting on Trump\u2019s legal challenges, which include four criminal cases and civil judgments in excess of a half-billion dollars. White House officials are wary of Trump\u2019s allegations that Biden\u2019s Justice Department is targeting him for political reasons \u2014 a claim the former president has used to rally support despite not offering any evidence to back it up.<\/p>\n
But with Trump\u2019s political operation spending tens of millions of dollars on his legal defense and the former president initially struggling to post a bond to delay enforcement of a more than $450 million judgment in a New York civil fraud trial, Biden\u2019s campaign has seized on the finance gap to try to undercut him and his boasts of financial wizardry.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Trump won a reprieve from a New York appeals court, which granted his request to reduce his bond in the civil case to $175 million. He also benefited from a development on Wall Street, as his Truth Social company won approval to trade on the Nasdaq composite index starting Tuesday. The stock\u2019s share price surged about 35 percent Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
But while Trump\u2019s stake is worth billions on paper, he is prohibited from selling for six months. And there is little sign that his broader financial problems are easing significantly.<\/p>\n
The Biden campaign last week reported $71 million cash on hand as of the end of February, more than twice the $33.5 million Trump\u2019s campaign reported. Biden and Vice President Harris added to that total during the rare joint fundraiser Tuesday, raking in more than $2 million, according to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D).<\/p>\n
Biden plans to cap his busy March on Thursday with what aides describe as the biggest money draw of the campaign to date, as he is joined by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall. The event, hosted by actor Mindy Kaling, will also feature musical guests including Lizzo, Queen Latifah and Ben Platt.<\/p>\n
The three presidents will be joined onstage for a conversation moderated by comedian Stephen Colbert, who has often pilloried Trump for his finances, business record and legal problems.<\/p>\n
Tickets have sold out and the fundraiser is expected to raise more than $10 million, according to two people familiar with the event who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential details. The price ranged from $225 to $500,000, and higher-priced tickets come with perks such as a photo of the attendee with the three presidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe it\u2019s going to be the largest Democratic fundraiser in the history of Democratic politics,\u201d said Chris Korge, the national finance chair of the Biden Victory Fund. \u201cThe excitement level for this event is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden and his aides have mocked Trump for his relatively meager fundraising. \u201cIf Donald Trump put up these kinds of numbers on The Apprentice, he\u2019d fire himself,\u201d Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden campaign, said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
But on Monday, the former president told reporters that Biden was politically weakened due to high inflation and global instability. He added without evidence that Trump himself was being targeted for political reasons, including in the court cases that have strained his finances.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what they do is they do election interference, which is court cases and \u2018let\u2019s try to take as much of his money as possible,\u2019\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Trump has previously shown an ability to succeed even when he does not have a money advantage, defeating Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 despite being heavily outspent.<\/p>\n
In addition to trying to get under Trump\u2019s skin, Biden\u2019s allies are seeking to quiet concerns among anxious Democrats that their campaign had been slow to gear up. Since Biden\u2019s fiery State of the Union speech this month \u2014 which was followed by a rush of $10 million in donations \u2014 the Biden team has touted plans to open more than 100 offices this month and has launched a $30 million spring advertising blitz.<\/p>\n
Biden has visited every battleground state since the State of the Union, according to campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
The Biden campaign is going after Trump as a feeble and confused figure, a critique that Biden\u2019s Republican adversaries have been leveling at Biden for months. \u201cAmerica deserves better than a feeble, confused and tired Donald Trump,\u201d Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said after a Trump news conference Monday.<\/p>\n
The \u201cBiden-Harris HQ\u201d account on X, meanwhile, has taken on a feistier tone. It highlights Trump\u2019s apparent verbal stumbles, as when the former president said, \u201cWe\u2019ll bring crime back to law and order\u201d \u2014 again repurposing a tactic long used by Biden\u2019s political foes.<\/p>\n
When Trump posted about getting an award at one of his own golf clubs, the Biden-Harris account responded sarcastically, \u201cCongratulations, Donald. Quite the accomplishment,\u201d and sent out an image of Trump placing a medal around his own neck.<\/p>\n
Biden\u2019s aides are hoping their growing money advantage will not only provide a psychological edge but also enable Biden to track down more elusive voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe voters who we need to persuade are not interested in paying attention to politics, so they\u2019re harder to find \u2014 and harder to find always translates into expensive to find,\u201d said Molly Murphy, a Democratic pollster. \u201cSo having the resource advantage is absolutely crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike Hillary Clinton in 2016, Biden can take advantage of his incumbency, allowing him to save funds while still engaging in political combat. At official, taxpayer-funded events as president, Biden has increasingly attacked Trump on policy matters including health care, taxes, infrastructure and immigration. These official White House events, which take place around the country, are often followed by campaign gatherings or fundraisers nearby.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Biden and Harris touted the president\u2019s record on health care during an official event in Raleigh, part of an ongoing push to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Anita Dunn, Biden\u2019s senior adviser, told reporters Monday that the event would offer a clear \u201csplit screen\u201d between Biden and his Republican foes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter more than 50 attempts by Republicans to repeal it, including attempts that had the strong support of the president\u2019s predecessor, the ACA stands stronger than ever,\u201d Dunn said.<\/p>\n
Michael Scherer and Tyler Pager contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 President Biden has been trying out a new riff on the campaign trail, aiming to seize on a growing vulnerability facing Donald Trump. \u201cI know everyone is not feeling the enthusiasm,\u201d Biden said Tuesday at a fundraiser in Raleigh, part of a multistate campaign tour this month. \u201cThe other day, a defeated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}