WASHINGTON (AP) — A month after becoming president, Joe Biden made clear his aversion to even naming the man he kicked out of the White House, declaring, “I’m sick of talking about Trump.” In a town hall with CNN, he declared: “In the next four years, I want to make sure that the news is the American people.”
Now, however, Biden is naming and talking about the once “guy who was before,” both in prepared statements and on social media, elevating Trump in a way that neither he nor his White House aides did in the early days. 18 months of his term.
Speaking on a teleconference this week with a group of Black law enforcement officials, Biden accused the former president of fueling “a medieval hell” for police officers who confronted the attackers on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. “Donald Trump lacked the courage to act,” he added.
Biden’s Twitter thread repeated those words — a jarring image for a White House that had tried to avoid any reference to the former president and especially his name.
And, when Biden emerged from isolation following a COVID-19 infection, he pointed to the fact that he was able to continue working from the White House residence while Trump was airlifted to a hospital for treatment following his diagnosis, at a time when those where no vaccines were available and when the then president had a cavalier attitude towards mitigation measures.
For some Democrats, Biden’s willingness to speak directly about Trump was long overdue.
“He’s like Lord Voldemort, right? You have to say his name and show that he is not afraid of him, ”said Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman. “It’s good to see that the president is talking about Donald Trump by name, as we all should.”
Biden’s increasingly combative stance comes as a series of revelations about Trump and his conduct during the assault on Capitol Hill are emerging and amid speculation that the Republican will launch a new presidential bid later this year.
Despite Biden’s low approval ratings, even among members of his own party, he continues to solidify the support of most Democratic voters when he is pitched as the party’s choice against a hypothetical Trump campaign in 2024.
Biden’s first effort to target Trump came on Jan. 6, 2022, when he delivered a speech on the one-year anniversary of the attack on Capitol Hill. Biden condemned his predecessor for putting “a dagger to the throat of democracy” by disseminating repeatedly refuted lies that Trump did not lose in the 2020 election.
But even then, Biden refused to mention Trump by name, raising questions about why.
“I don’t want to turn this into a contemporary political battle between me and the president,” Biden explained after his remarks on Capitol Hill. “It’s much more than that”.
Other Democrats say that Biden, who campaigned on the promise of unifying a country divided by partisanship, was right to turn the spotlight on Trump at a time when Democrats had regained control of Washington for the first time in a decade and were they were poised to launch an ambitious agenda and emerge from the chaotic years of the Trump era.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said he, too, wrestled with deciding how much focus should be on the former president.
“I think a lot of us just hoped he would go away and if we stopped talking about him, everyone would stop talking about him too,” he said. “But it didn’t turn out that way. He’s going to run for election and he still controls the GOP and I don’t think we can ignore him anymore.”
This week, Biden left no doubt that he was ready — perhaps willing — to directly challenge Trump in a way he hadn’t before.
In recorded remarks to the organization’s annual conference of black law enforcement officials, Biden made repeated references to the “defeated” former president who did nothing as police officers fought for hours to protect the Capitol as lawmakers gathered to certify Biden’s electoral victory.
“The police officers were the heroes that day. Donald Trump lacked the courage to act,” Biden said. “The brave men and women in blue uniforms across this country must never forget that.”
Biden’s Twitter account amplified those words and promoted his repeated references to Trump. A day later, a tweet stressed that the “former president” opposes limiting “military-style weapons” that Biden insists should be banned.
On Wednesday, when Biden came out of isolation and made celebratory remarks in the White House Rose Garden, he was given another opportunity to invoke Trump and their differences on another issue.
“When my predecessor contracted COVID, he had to be airlifted to Walter Reed Medical Center. He became severely ill. Luckily he recovered,” Biden recalled. “When I contracted COVID, I worked in the White House.” Biden emphasized that the vaccines, home tests and antiviral treatments he received were widely available to the public.
The White House sees those two issues — law and order and handling of the pandemic — as among the areas where Biden may present his biggest contrast to the previous administration. Biden himself has made no secret that he is eager to face Trump again in an election, telling Israeli television recently that he “would not be disappointed” about that prospect.
As for the former president, Biden’s tweets and comments have not surfaced in recent conversations between Trump advisers, according to two people familiar with the conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are destroying America, just as President Trump predicted,” Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said. “From a recession at home to wars abroad, there is nothing Joe Biden can say that will distract from the suffering he has caused the American people. His interns should stop writing silly tweets and start writing their resignation letter.”
Biden’s new, more belligerent stance is yet another way the White House has tried to draw a stark contrast to Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in November, as Democrats are battered by traditional headwinds that traditionally pitted against the party in power and with voter discontent over inflation and the general direction of the country.
Republicans are skeptical that strategy will work, even with Trump considering announcing his candidacy before the election. They fear that candidacy will distract from Republican efforts to make the election a referendum on Democratic leadership in Washington.
“I get it. If I were responsible for 9.1% inflation and a faltering economy and a disaster on the southern border, I would probably try to change the subject,” said Republican Sen. John Thune, the party’s number two in the Senate.
His Democratic colleague Brian Schatz said Biden’s calm public persona and careful tendencies were what made him appealing to a wide section of voters.
“However, I think he is coming to the same conclusion as most of the country: that the former president attempted a coup,” Schatz said. “While President Biden tries to avoid inflammatory rhetoric, I think he has realized that there is no other way to put it.”
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Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.