Biden punches at Trump and the press as he tries to revive his campaign
Biden's crowd booed the press
The new speech comes just ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee…to turn the spotlight back onto former President Donald Trump.
In what may be a first at a Biden rally, supporters booed the press as Biden complained about coverage of his political woes.
"They’ve been hammering me because I sometimes confuse names," Biden said. "I say, 'That's Charlie,' instead of 'Bill,'" Biden said.
…
"But guess what: Donald Trump has gotten a free pass," he said, criticizing the media for failing to cover the former president.
Voter Tiombe Williams told NPR that Biden's speech "hit all the right notes."
"I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed with the debate, but I thought he made up for it tonight," Williams said. "He was very clear about his agenda, where we're going to go from now until the next four years."
Gloria Ghant, a registered nurse from Detroit, said she wanted to see Biden speak amid the "speculations that he's not all cognitively aware."
"He's very cognitively aware, and he wants to save democracy," said Ghant, 64.
Biden rattled off highlights of odd Trump rally moments: praise for Hannibal Lecter, fear of sharks, praise for Putin.
“People would rather talk about how I mix up names. I guess they don’t remember that Trump called Nikki Haley 'Nancy Pelosi,'" Biden said.
Biden talked about the details of Trump's recent hush money conviction and defamation lawsuit and ran through a dizzying list of Trump's other civil legal woes. He talked about the outstanding criminal charges the former president still faces.
At times, his supporters chanted, "Lock him up" — an echo of a Trump rally cheer circa 2016, when Trump accused his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of criminal misdeeds.
Biden described the details of Project 2025, a 900-page conservative plan to transform government that he said would be a blueprint for Trump's second term. …
…Trump would use the plan to criminalize medication abortion, prosecute his enemies, replace large swaths of the civil service with loyalists, cut social security and Medicare, eliminate the Department of Education, end programs like school lunches and Head Start, and give tax cuts to the rich.