Tensions amid party members rise as Biden tests positive for Covid and will be in self-isolation in Delaware
Pressure for Joe Biden to step aside as the Democrats’ presidential pick to face Donald Trump had eased since the Republican survived an assassination attempt last weekend, but began to rise again on Wednesday.
The tension rose as Biden was diagnosed with Covid and cancelled events to self-isolate at his home in Delaware.
Continue reading...California Democrat and US Senate candidate calls on Joe Biden to end his campaign, stating he has ‘serious concerns’
Adam Schiff, the high-profile California Democrat and US Senate candidate, on Wednesday called on Joe Biden to end his presidential campaign, stating he had “serious concerns” about the president’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles-area congressman joined almost 20 other congressional Democrats in asking the president to step aside. Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history”, Schiff said, but it was time “to pass the torch”.
Continue reading...Former rival for Republican presidential nomination takes to stage in Milwaukee to formally endorse Trump
In addition to getting Donald Trump back in the White House, Republicans really want to retake the majority in the US Senate in the November elections, and have dedicated much of the convention tonight thus far to promoting their candidates for crucial seats.
In addition to Kari Lake, who is vying for Arizona’s open senate seat, the convention has heard from Eric Hovde, the party’s candidate to beat incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin. Here’s what Hovde told the crowd:
Tammy Baldwin called the Biden administration the most successful in generations. Can you believe that one? I mean, seriously, this shows how detached she is from everyday Wisconsinites. It doesn’t have to be this way. Under President Trump, family budgets were more secure, our border was secure, our world was secure. Where Biden and Baldwin have failed, President Trump and I will get the job done.
I love America, and I’ve lived the American dream. I married my best friend, raised a family, built successful businesses and created thousands of jobs for hard-working Americans. But the American dream that I lived is under attack from Joe Biden and his enablers in the Senate like Sherrod Brown.
Continue reading...Trio say DNC proposal to hold ‘virtual roll call’ in July is ‘terrible idea’ that could undermine morale and unity
At least three US House of Representatives Democrats were preparing to sign a letter protesting against a plan to speed up the official party approval of Joe Biden’s re-election bid, the lawmakers’ offices said on Tuesday.
The three lawmakers are among a growing number of Democrats upset by plans to hold a “virtual rollcall” vote on Biden’s becoming the nominee as soon as 21 July, instead of waiting for the convention being held from 19 to 22 August in Chicago.
Continue reading...Kari Lake attacks media as ‘fake news’ as Elise Stefanik calls Biden ‘feckless and failed’ and says he’s caused ‘chaos’
Speakers at the Republican national convention ramped up their rhetorical attacks on Democrats on Tuesday night despite Donald Trump’s presidential campaign signalling that the party would adopt a serious tone and message of unity in the face of political violence.
Kari Lake, a Trump ally and Republican candidate for senate in Arizona, used her speech time to launch an attack on the media, which she called “fake news”, and said more Americans were no longer tuning in to mainstream media.
Continue reading...President to unveil rent control plan for larger landlords that would restrict increases to 5%, or risk losing tax breaks
President Joe Biden wants to curb rent increases by penalizing landlords who hike rents beyond 5% each year, but he needs the help of Congress to put the plan into action.
The Biden administration will announce the idea in Nevada on Tuesday along with a host of other housing-related policies, including an influx of funds to add more housing in Nevada and elsewhere and a plan to use public federal lands for affordable housing near Las Vegas.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has announced that Ohio senator JD Vance will be his running mate
President Joe Biden has postponed a planned trip to Texas today, where he was to speak on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B Johnson presidential library.
An NBC News interview between Biden and anchor Lester Holt will now occur at the White House, instead of in Texas, as initially planned, Associated Press reports.
There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence for that matter.
An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen.
Continue reading...Suspect, named as Thomas Matthew Crooks, also killed in shooting at Pennsylvania rally; former first lady echoes husband’s call for unity
Before Saturday’s attempt on Donald Trump’s life, there have been multiple assassinations of US presidents.
Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated, shot by John Wilkes Booth on 14 April 1865, as he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a special performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, the AP writes.
Continue reading...US president decries assassination attempt and urges Americans to unite during White House press conference
Joe Biden said that that there was “no place in America” for the sort of political violence that saw a gunman open fire on Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and plunge America’s already fractious election campaign into new levels of fears over political unrest.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter. An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation,” Biden said. “Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now. Unity. We’ll debate and disagree, that’s not going to change, but we’re not going to lose sight of who we are as Americans.”
Continue reading...Thomas Matthew Crooks, aged 20, named by the agency as person involved in the shooting at campaign event in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor Josh Shapiro rejected political violence in a statement posted on X following the apparent shooting of Donald Trump at a rally in his state today:
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung tells me in a statement that the former president is being assessed at a local medial facility:
Continue reading...Britain’s new PM and his team are genuinely excited to have seized the reins of power in Westminster – but are under no illusion about the size of the task ahead
When the new British prime minister, Keir Starmer, invited Wes Streeting into Downing Street to appoint him health secretary on Friday 5 July, the exchanges behind closed doors were entirely cordial.
But things rarely run 100% smoothly in the first days of a new administration as a complete government jigsaw is put together, piece by piece.
Continue reading...Speculation grows that senior figures including Barack Obama could step in and ask president to throw in the towel
What can we say to make you go, Joe? It is the question that more and more Democrats – elected members and ordinary voters – are asking as the rumbling crisis over Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy, sparked by a pitiful display in the debate in Atlanta, degenerates into a war of attrition.
Last Thursday, the president’s fate appeared perched on the edge of an abyss, as Congress members deserted him, senators poured out their heartfelt fears at a tearful meeting with White House staff, and even his own close aides and advisers briefed reporters that he should stand aside.
Continue reading...Senator hails ‘most effective president in modern history’ and says Biden is strongest bet to beat ‘demagogue’ Trump
Bernie Sanders has offered his backing to Joe Biden, dismissing calls for the man he described as the “most effective president in the modern history of our country” to stand down in the upcoming US presidential election.
Sanders, the totemic progressive US senator, used an opinion piece in the New York Times to endorse Biden, who has come under increasing fire from fellow Democrats over his ability to beat Donald Trump following a disastrous televised debate between the two.
Continue reading...Strength of criticism suggests Trump and allies see vice-president as powerful electoral asset for Democrats
With the state of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign in turmoil, Donald Trump and his Republican allies are stepping up attacks on a familiar and, some say, possibly more threatening, political foe: his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
In the weeks since Biden’s stumbling debate performance, Republicans have intensified what many call racist and misogynistic criticism. They have questioned Harris’s competency, mocked her demeanor, and accused her of concealing concerns about the president’s health. Trump unveiled a new, derisive nickname for the vice-president, “Laffin’ Kamala”, which he tested at a campaign rally in Florida this week.
Continue reading...Press briefings become flashpoint as journalists criticise culture of denial and non-disclosure around the president
It was the moment when long-simmering media resentment at a seemingly opaque White House broke through the surface with startling intensity.
With Joe Biden’s candidacy teetering in the wake of last month’s alarming debate showing, journalists who had covered his presidency full-time for years suddenly asserted that it lacked that most basic political element: credibility.
Continue reading...Hakeem Jeffries reveals ‘candid’ talks with president about 2024 future as another top Democrat urges Biden to pull out
Joe Biden delivered a defiant speech on Friday evening in the battleground state of Michigan, firmly dismissing the doubt swirling around his survival as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Biden held a rally at a high school gymnasium in Detroit as part of his visit to the critical swing state that chose Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. He walked on stage to audience chants of “don’t you quit” and addressed the speculation head on: “I am running, and we’re gonna win,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Continue reading...Billboards will go up in seven swing states as campaign seeks to publicize manifesto and tie it to ex-president
Democrats will put up billboards in swing states that show Donald Trump and tie him to Project 2025, a conservative manifesto that could become reality if he wins in November.
The Democratic National Committee’s paid media campaign escalates liberal efforts to publicize Project 2025 and tie it to the former president after he sought to distance himself from the plan. The blueprint for a second Trump administration is led by the rightwing thinktank the Heritage Foundation and counts support from more than 100 other conservative groups.
Continue reading...Pew finds that Trump has a 4 percentage point lead over Biden among registered voters nationwide
Joe Biden continues to push back against those calling for him to step aside, albeit gently.
Politico reports that the president’s aides have reached out to delegates ahead of the Democratic national convention in August, and asked questions that seem geared towards making sure they remain loyal to the president ahead of his formal re-nomination.
Fearing a floor revolt against his nomination, President Biden’s aides are telephoning individual delegates to next month’s Democratic convention to gauge their loyalty to the president, according to three delegates who received a call this week.
After a round of introductory questions confirming each delegate was still planning on going to Chicago and asking if they had served as delegate before, the Biden aide making the calls got to the point, the Democratic activists recalled to me in separate interviews.
Continue reading...Asked about speculation over US president’s health, PM says he dealt with issues at pace and was across all detail
Keir Starmer has said Joe Biden was “on good form” and went through serious issues at pace during their first bilateral talks at the White House as he was asked about claims the US president could be senile.
The prime minister said his personal view, having spent almost an hour in private talks with Biden and attended a dinner for Nato leaders at the White House, was that he was mentally agile.
Continue reading...US president’s press conference, which will include questions from reporters, is certain to be scrutinised for any signs of slip-up
Joe Biden was gearing up for one of the most pivotal press conferences of his long political career on Thursday in Washington as the growing number of Democratic party members calling on him to step down has turned the eyes of the world to his performance tonight.
The US president was scheduled to face journalists at a news conference marking the end of Nato’s 75th anniversary summit at 5.30pm, while across the city senators were preparing to meet key members of Biden’s staff at the White House to air their concerns about Biden’s electability following last month’s disastrous debate performance with Donald Trump.
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