DETROIT ― An energetic, fast-talking President Joe Biden rallied supporters here Friday night with sharp attacks on his rival, Donald Trump, and a vision for the second term he remains intent on pursuing.
“There’s a lot of speculation lately, What’s Joe Biden going to do?” Biden said, kicking off a half-hour address to a crowd of more than 2,000 supporters inside a high school gymnasium. “I’m running, and we’re going to win.”
Biden’s speech included an accounting of his legislative accomplishments and their effects on Michigan, a key swing state, including green energy investments that are financing new electric vehicle factories and Medicare reforms that are reducing the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and people with disabilities.
But the heart of Biden’s speech was a lengthy, detailed attack on what Trump did when he was in the White House before ― and what he could do if he gets back in next year.
Biden singled out the provisions of “ Project 2025 ,” a right-wing agenda published by the conservative Heritage Foundation that envisions a second Trump term dramatically expanding the powers of the presidency, downsizing the welfare state and rolling back reproductive rights. Its authors include prominent former and current Trump advisers, though Trump has recently tried to distance himself from the document.
“We’re going to stand up for women in America, we’re going to protect contraception, we’re going to protect IVF, we’re going to restore Roe v. Wade as law of the land,” Biden said Friday.
Biden was just as methodical in attacking Trump personally, calling out the former president as a “convicted criminal” who would destroy democracy if he had the chance.
“It’s time to stop treating politics like entertainment,” Biden said. “Another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious.“
An Ordinary Event In An Extraordinary Time
With star-spangled bunting hanging from the gym’s viewing areas and a Michigan audience flecked with color-coordinated union shirts, the event had the feel of an ordinary effort to win votes in a closely contested swing state .
But this is no ordinary moment in American politics.
Biden is hearing more and more pleas for him to withdraw from the race over fears he cannot beat Trump. Those concerns became more intense ― and exploded into public view― after a fumbling debate performance in late June, followed by a series of media reports calling into question his mental and physical capacities.
The latest blows came Friday, when three more House Democrats called on Biden to step aside.
But Biden has insisted he remains the Democrats’ best chance to beat Trump. And on Friday evening, Biden addressed his critics head on and at length, citing some new, more favorable poll numbers and the number of votes he collected during the Democratic primaries.
“I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party, the only Democrat or Republican who has ever beaten Donald Trump,” Biden said. “And I’m going to beat him again.”
Biden acknowledged his age and occasional rhetorical stumbles, and near the start of his speech he seemed to lose track of his thoughts briefly while introducing members of the Michigan delegations in Congress.
But by and large Biden seemed fired up, feeding off the raucous crowd. He even took a little skip in the middle of his characteristically deliberate walk off the stage.
Biden also threw shade at party elites and the media, the latter of whom, he said, were ignoring Trump’s own frequently incoherent rants.
“Trump is getting a free pass,” Biden said.
It’s not clear how much performances like Friday’s rally will satisfy Democrats who are worried that Biden cannot perform as well in high-pressure, unscripted settings, such as last month’s presidential debate, when he failed to make precisely the sort of case he did here on Friday evening.
Similar concerns seem to be on the minds of loyal Democrats. In recent polls, majorities of party voters have said they hope Biden steps aside so that another Democrat can lead the ticket.
The Faith Of Biden Followers
But that was not the sentiment in the crowd Friday night, at least based on a smattering of people who spoke to HuffPost.
“I want to see him finish this out,” said Ramez Khuri, 47, who lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and works at a Ford Assembly Plant building Broncos and Rangers. “I’m behind him. I think he just had a bad night. And we all have bad nights.”
Frank Arvan, a 68-year-old retired architect from Royal Oak, wasn’t quite as emphatic in his confidence.
“The polls are close. Anybody watching would have concerns,” Arvan said. But he said he trusted Biden to make the right decision and had a hard time believing “there are that many people in this country who are taken in by Donald Trump’s con. I just can’t believe there are that many people who believe he’s a good enough person to be president.”
Tina Moore, 51, said Biden’s determination to keep running actually made her feel even more strongly about supporting him. “I like his perseverance, to be honest,” said Moore, who is a labor employment attorney in the northern Detroit suburbs. “He’s got a lot of naysayers, and he’s just sort of ignoring them. I think he’s done a great job, and I think he’ll continue to do a great job.”
Moore is a Howard University graduate, and she noted that Biden’s selection of Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Howard alum, had made a big impression on her.
Moore was there with her daughter, Brooklyn Forbers, who is about to start high school. Polls have shown Biden struggling to excite younger voters or even to reach them, given how little they rely on traditional news sources.
But Forbers said the message coming across her social media (mainly TikTok) skewed in Biden’s direction, mostly because of how Trump appears. “He’s kinda goofy; I don’t really take him seriously,” Forbers said. “How can you take him seriously if he’s out there not even addressing the debate?”
Forbers said she also sees a lot of mentions in her feed about Project 2025, including references to provisions that would make it harder to get a divorce or would strip away rights from women and the LGBTQ community.
“It’s a little scary,” she said.
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