Joe Biden and Kamala Harris demonstrated their unity in an optimistic manner on Thursday as they held their first joint public event since Harris replaced the president as the Democratic Party’s nominee in the November election.
From the audience at a community college in a Maryland suburb outside Washington, shouts of “Thank you, Joe!” rang out.
Biden announced a comprehensive reduction in drug prices for social security retirees.
The biggest star, however, was Biden’s vice president, who surprised many by uniting the Democratic Party and making strong gains in the polls over Republican Donald Trump since her abrupt entry into the race for the White House.
“She can be a damn good president,” Biden said of Harris.
Shortly after the joint appearance, Trump delivered rambling and often angry remarks from his golf club in New Jersey before answering questions from a handful of journalists.
Harris has a “very strong communist leaning” and will mean the “death of the American dream,” he said.
The real estate billionaire and scandal-ridden ex-president has struggled to refocus his campaign since Biden dropped out on July 21 because Democrats feared that, at 81, he lacked the stamina needed for the job.
Until then, Trump’s poll numbers had been rising steadily, largely due to his claim that Biden was losing his mental acuity – a charge that gained popularity when the president completely botched a televised debate against his predecessor.
At his golf club event, 78-year-old Trump began by reading long statements from a folder.
He was supposed to attack Harris over inflation, with household products piled up on a table next to him, but almost immediately he started complaining about the media and insulting Harris, saying she was “not smart.”
Referring to Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Trump said he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in July to “claim his victory and put it behind him… The killing must stop.”
At a later event with Jewish supporters, Trump then directed his attack at Harris, claiming she had “maneuvered” to gain support from “toxic anti-Semites in her party.”
Harris is married to a Jew. If she wins the election, she would make history as the first Jewish wife of a US president – and the first man to hold that office.
In his typically inflammatory language, Trump claimed that if Harris won, “the radical left flag-burners and Hamas sympathizers would not only cause chaos in our streets. They would be in the White House dictating U.S. foreign policy, and Israel would be gone.”
– Biden is the lame duck –
For Biden, Thursday’s event was half a victory lap and half an admission that he is entering the “lame duck” phase of his presidency.
Harris, 59, is expected to be crowned the Democratic candidate at the party convention in Chicago next week.
But she demonstrated the deference she showed as vice president by introducing Biden only in brief speeches and stressing that it had been an honor to serve under the “most extraordinary human being.”
“There is great love for our president in this room,” she said to cheers.
Biden appeared energetic and drew cheers when he said the Democrats’ plan was to “give hell to Republican opponents,” and laughter when he pretended not to know Trump’s name – “Donald Dump or Donald whatever.”
The drug price agreement will reduce the cost of ten important medicines for pensioners, including those used to treat diabetes, heart failure and blood clots.
The United States has the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. Many people have to pay at least part of these costs out of their own pockets, despite already exorbitant insurance premiums.
On Friday, Harris will present details of her economic program for the first time.
The United States’ first black vice president of South Asian descent is expected to largely adhere to Biden’s economic agenda while seeking to differentiate herself from it and avoid voter anger over the post-Covid rise in inflation.
While Trump has long performed better on economic issues, a recent poll by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan found that voters trust Harris more on this issue (42 percent to 41 percent).
Trump, who survived an assassination attempt on July 13, is now the oldest presidential candidate in US history.
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