Biden pledges to run for re-election 'with all his might', criticizes Trump's policies
According to Reuters, US President Joe Biden promised black voters on July 16 (local time) that he would "go all out" to run for re-election on November 5. The leader also criticized Donald Trump's performance as president, in his first political speech since his Republican opponent was assassinated.
Mr Biden was greeted with chants of “four more years” as he spoke at the NAACP’s annual convention in Las Vegas, a key gathering of black voters.
The current US President said he was glad that Mr. Trump was not seriously injured at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, but criticized him on many aspects including the way he managed the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Let me say it again because Trump is lying about this — Black unemployment has reached record lows under the Biden-Harris administration,” Biden said.
Mr. Biden rebuked Mr. Trump for suggesting that former President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen and for his comments about "black jobs" during the Trump-Biden debate on June 27.
“I will give it my all,” Mr. Biden said.
The assassination of Mr Trump on Saturday prompted Mr Biden’s campaign to pull its television advertising, halt its verbal attacks on the former president and focus on a message of unity.
“Our politics have become overheated,” President Biden said.
The campaign's strategy has previously focused on sharply criticizing Mr. Trump as a threat to American democracy and highlighting his refusal to concede defeat in the 2020 election and the charges against him.
The campaign is now trying to adjust to a less aggressive message that still makes a clear distinction between the two candidates.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, represents a significant constituency for the Democratic Party. While black voters strongly supported Biden in 2020, polls have shown that support from this group is waning this election.
“People are worried about the price of gas, the price of bread, but they are also worried about the growing understanding of Project 2025,” Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, told Reuters on July 15, referring to a series of conservative policy proposals that have become a point of contention for Trump critics.
President Biden used the solemn backdrop of the White House Oval Office on July 14 to urge Americans to cool their political tempers and pledge to resolve differences peacefully. He said the November 5 presidential election would be a “testing moment.”
The US president also postponed a trip to Texas earlier this week, where he was scheduled to speak on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.
White House officials hope the assassination of Mr Trump will ease pressure on Mr Biden to drop out of the Democratic Party's nomination over concerns about his sanity and ability to govern over the next four years.
At the end of his speech in Las Vegas, Mr Biden addressed criticism that he was too old for the job.
"Hopefully I've shown a little bit of wisdom today. Here's what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. And I know that the good Lord didn't bring us here to abandon us now. We have a lot of work to do," he said.
On July 17, Mr. Biden is scheduled to speak to Latin American leaders at the UnidosUS Annual Conference, also taking place in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump and members of the Republican Party are gathering in Milwaukee for the party's nominating convention, which opens on July 15 with the selection of Senator JD Vance as Mr. Trump's running mate.
