Vigorous Biden returns to campaign: “We’re going to calm things down, but we’re not going to stop telling the truth” | USA Elections

A rejuvenated Joe Biden is back on the campaign trail. In Las Vegas this afternoon, the president received a much-needed welcome after weeks of criticism and calls to abandon the race. Biden has appeared before a key segment of his electorate, black voters. He did so just three days after launching an attack against his rival Donald Trump, who is leading in the polls. “It’s a tense time in this country. It’s time to have a serious conversation. Politics is getting very heated,” Biden said at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The president took the stage in good spirits. He began his speech by recalling 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 wasn’t the only time Biden referenced the 33rd occupant of the White House. It also brought to mind the famous phrase he uttered: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” “In recent weeks I’ve known very well what he was referring to,” Biden said, prompting laughter among those in attendance. “Thank you so much for your support, I believe I have your support too,” the president added.four more years, four more years! (four more years).”

Continuing his message in the Oval Office on Sunday, Biden said all political actors are bound to see their spirits lowered after years of polarization. “We must reject violence in all its forms. Violence is not the answer,” he stressed. In his speech he attacked firearms, especially high-powered rifles like the one used by Thomas Matthew Crooks in his attack on Saturday. “Support me so these weapons get off the streets,” he said, referring to legislation tightening access to weapons that has been blocked by Republicans and the courts.

Biden assured that he would not stop speaking “with the truth” in his effort to calm the political climate. “The Trump administration was hell for African Americans,” he said to applause. “He tried to repeal health insurance and left millions without coverage, gave tax benefits to the richest and blew up the public debt,” he added.

“In the face of peaceful protests following the death of George Floyd, Donald Trump mobilized the National Guard. Biden said this shortly after assuring that he would continue to pray for the Republican candidate and his family, “What the hell is wrong with this man?” “This is the man who said Barack Obama wasn’t born here and he wasn’t a citizen here… The man talks about ‘black jobs’. “I know this is a job for black people: vice president of the United States!” he mentioned in reference to Kamala Harris, prompting applause. At another point, Biden said the former California senator “is not only a great vice president, but she could be president of the United States.”

Biden announced on Sunday that he would resume his campaign activities. He does so at a time when opposition delegates are meeting in Wisconsin to support Trump, who has recently been nominated as the party’s candidate for the third time. “I have no doubt that they will criticize my career and present their vision of this country. I will be traveling this week to explain our results and vision, my vision of the country, our vision,” he announced over the weekend.

That approach requires African American voters. This is the sector of the electorate that most strongly disapproves of Trump. Seven in ten black people have a poor opinion of the former president. However, the percentage has decreased over the past three years, when nine in ten disapproved of the Republican.

The convention of the NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the United States, was the president’s first stop in Las Vegas. This Wednesday he will speak before the UNIDOS convention, an influential Latino organization, another group he has to meet while in the White House.

Nevada is one of the seven states that are battleground states for the November elections. The Democratic candidate is trailing between five and seven points in this state in three recent surveys. Trump is ahead of Biden in the average of the surveys as well. The unfavorable numbers have led 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 visits have come after the disastrous first presidential debate.

Biden has led the NAACP’s activities this Tuesday by meeting in Las Vegas since Wednesday last week. This afternoon’s event is a new gesture since the president made a gesture to the black community in May. The president posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to World War II veteran Medgar Evers, who fought in Mississippi against segregation and lynching as a member of the organization and who was assassinated in June 1963 at the age of 37.

Follow all the information about the elections in the United States Our weekly newsletter,