President Biden is stepping up his attacks on former President Trump and criticizing him for his record in the Oval Office at a time when it appears the two are increasingly poised for a rematch in the White House next fall.
Biden didn’t call Trump by name when he criticized the last president, but the criticism was direct, personal, and conspicuous.
In a Labor Day speech in Philadelphia that had some hallmarks of a campaign rally, Biden said “the last man” to hold office had “looked at the world from Park Avenue” and “moved jobs to China.”
“The last one” also risked his pensions and left office with fewer jobs than when he took office, Biden said.
Biden also took a stand against Trump on Friday, saying that “America is losing jobs under his administration” and that Trump is “one of only two presidents in history to have assumed the presidency and left with fewer jobs than when he took office.”
Taken together, the two speeches show that Biden has Trump on his mind and that he wants to make the argument that the economy is stronger under his leadership, not weaker than it was under Trump.
The economy has been a soft topic for Biden, and his use of Bidenomics to bolster American views of his leadership has so far shown no real signs of success.
The RealClearPolitics poll average shows that just 38 percent of respondents approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, compared to 58.4 percent who disagree.
In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted Aug. 26-29, Biden received 43 percent approval but 54 percent disapproval for his handling of the economy, and a 37 percent approval rating versus a 59 percent disapproval rating in a Wall Street Journal poll in late August.
Should Trump later become the Republican presidential nominee, he will certainly claim that the economy was stronger than Biden’s during his presidency. And right now, it looks like a strong theme for the Republican.
Jim Kessler, executive vice president of policy at Democratic think tank Third Way, said Biden has a positive economic story to tell and it’s time to improve those numbers.
“If you look at past successful presidential reelections like Reagan, Clinton and Obama, they were all behind on Labor Day the previous election year and all used the next six months to change the narrative and build a lead that they never gave up. That’s the script that Biden is playing,” he said.
“And he has the benefit of knowing who the most likely candidate is going to be,” Kessler added.
The attacks on Trump show that Biden wants to lay the groundwork that Trump’s leadership of the economy has not been strong.
Biden endorsed his infrastructure bill, which passed with Republican support and became law, in contrast to Trump’s efforts that came to nothing.
“Guess what? The big real estate contractor — the last one here — he didn’t build anything,” Biden said Monday.
Trump is well ahead in Republican primary polls, suggesting the Republican race to choose a challenger to Biden may be over before it even begins.
Trump has an average lead of 38.6 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics statewide average for the GOP primary, while he has a narrower 26 percent lead in the RealClearPolitics average for Iowa.
The general election campaign between Biden and Trump is expected to be tight.
In a recent Wall Street Journal poll, they each received 46 percent support. The poll showed Trump had a 1 percent lead over Biden when including third-party candidates.
Given the general importance of the issue in every presidential election, making his case on the economy is crucial for Biden.
He also appears to be following a script from his former boss in laying out the economic contrast early on.
Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons compared Biden’s attacks on Trump to the way then-candidate Mitt Romney was vilified in former President Obama’s re-election campaign before he officially became the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.
“It wasn’t quite that early, but the Obama people decided to define Mitt Romney pretty early in 2012, and by the time Romney was free to answer, the die was already cast,” Simmons said. “That’s why it’s wise to define your opponent as early as possible, because the longer you argue, the deeper the voters’ impressions become.”
The Trump campaign responded to Biden’s criticism Monday by arguing that Trump passed “record-breaking middle-class tax breaks” and “created a booming economic recovery.”
“The corrupt Joe Biden is the destroyer of American jobs and continues to fuel runaway inflation with reckless, high government spending,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden’s reelection campaign, said they wanted to have a debate on Biden’s and Trump’s career track record.
“Donald Trump is the only president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with fewer net jobs. His empty promises to restore production and good jobs did not materialize in the United States until President Biden took office. It’s a direct contrast that voters are familiar with and a debate that we’re excited about,” Munoz said.
Trump’s presidency ended amid the coronavirus pandemic, which wreaked havoc on the economy in 2020.
The White House has also ramped up attacks on Republicans in general recently, with advisers slamming Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other lawmakers over impeachment probes and threats to shut down the government.
They have repeatedly raised Trump’s ally Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), trying to tie her to Trump and other Republicans who argue against giving the GOP more governing power.
The only area the White House is not addressing is the charges against Trump. This could counter Republican arguments that the Justice Department has been used as a weapon against Trump and Republicans.
That could change, however, if Trump is convicted ahead of the election.
“Trump’s legal arguments are their own disaster; “There is no reason for President Biden to get into this mess,” Simmons said. “If you’re pro-Trump, you don’t care. The other 60 percent of Americans, I think, will have a hard time accepting a presidential candidate with four felony charges.”
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