‘Oh God I miss him’: Biden keeps returning to Trump as a cause of nation’s troubles
By: Ashley Parker (Washington Post)
You know Joe Biden is in trouble when he has to play the Trump card.
Biden has been reviving the Obama policy agenda. How's that working, Joe?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
In Biden’s first solo news conference on Thursday, the specter of former president Donald Trump loomed awkwardly — part foil, part scapegoat and, once, as a punchline.
“My predecessor, oh God I miss him,” Biden said at one point, seeming to channel the just-can’t-quit-him fascination with the former president. A reporter had asked if Biden planned to run again in 2024, noting that unlike Trump, “you haven’t set up a reelection campaign yet, as your predecessor had by this time.”
Biden has repeatedly joked that he is the rare Irishman who doesn’t hold grudges, and the tradition of a new president blaming their predecessor is almost de rigueur. But Biden’s frequent invocation Thursday of Trump — the man who repeatedly attacked both him and his son Hunter during the 2020 presidential campaign — felt decidedly personal.
The current president mentioned the former one by name 10 times, and on more than half a dozen different occasions, sometimes in response to Trump-specific questions and other times unprompted.
The first instance came early in the news conference, as Biden tackled a question about immigration and the surge of migrants — particularly unaccompanied minors — at the nation’s southern border. The president claimed, incorrectly, that the current surge is not more pronounced than during the Trump administration, and more accurately noted that Trump eliminated much of the funding intended to help combat the root causes of illegal immigration.
The challenge of the Biden administration, he continued, is undoing the damage wrought under Trump’s tenure. “So, we’re building back up the capacity that should have been maintained and built upon that Trump dismantled,” Biden concluded. “It’s going to take time.”
Biden returned to the topic of Trump and immigration two more times, including when pressed on his own rhetoric and policies, which have — intentionally or not — sent a more welcoming signal to migrants considering making the dangerous journey north.
“Well look, the idea that I’m gonna say — which I would never do — if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we’re just gonna let him starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administration did that either except Trump,” Biden said. “I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna do it.”
Biden was referring to the Trump era emergency public health order known as Title 42 used to “expel” migrants, including unaccompanied minors, who were generally returned by air to their home countries. Though Trump did use Title 42 to return minors without giving them a chance to seek asylum — something the Biden administration says it will not do — the former president did not simply send them back to Mexico to starve to death or wander the desert, as Biden and some of his top officials have implied.
And Biden also criticized Trump when asked about the immigration policies of his predecessor, which he began unwinding almost immediately upon taking office.
“Rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers, I make no apology for that,” Biden said. “Rolling back the policies of ‘Remain in Mexico,’ sitting on the edge of the Rio Grande in a muddy circumstance with not enough to eat in a — I make no apologies for that. I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, international law, as well as on human dignity. And so I make no apologies for that.”
The president’s repeated references to Trump represented a stark departure from Biden and his team’s unofficial mantra of not elevating the 45th president and engaging with him as little as possible. It was a strategy they maintained diligently throughout the presidential campaign, and even into the Biden administration; during a CNN town hall a little more than five weeks ago, Biden pointedly called him “the former guy.”
“I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump,” he said at the time.
Yet on Thursday, Biden seemed eager to discuss his predecessor. Addressing the increasing likelihood that he will not meet the May 1 deadline to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the current president returned to the former one.
“The question is how and on what circumstances do we meet that agreement that was made by President Trump to leave under a deal that looks like it’s not being able to be worked out to begin with?” he said.
Biden also referred to Trump — without actually mentioning his name — near the end of a long answer on China, when he turned to human rights. In his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said, “I made it clear that no American president — at least one did — but no American president ever backed down from speaking out of what’s happening to the Uyghurs, what’s happening in Hong Kong, what’s happening in [the] country.”
“That’s who we are,” Biden continued. “The moment a president walks away from that, as the last one did, is the moment we begin to lose our legitimacy around the world.”
Trump did his part to remain omnipresent, calling into Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show Thursday night to attack Biden’s immigration policies as “inhumane” and boast about his partially built border wall.
But Biden had certain limits Thursday when it came to his 2020 rival. Asked if he expected to run against Trump in 2024, Biden seemed to grow frustrated.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “I don’t even think about — I don’t — I have no idea. I have no idea if there will be a Republican Party, do you?”
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Yes, Joe, we know you ain't Trump. But that's not the question.
Are Joe Biden's policies better than Trump's? Joe Biden could end up destroying the country trying to prove that Trump's policies were wrong.
Oh yes...He is going to destroy the country, like Godzilla on a rampage while screaming 'trump' the whole time...
Very truthful comment.
All Biden has is "But Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!!". Like Trump is responsible for Biden's stupid decisions on immigration that have caused this current crisis.
Biden fucks up and blames Trump for it. Expect his entire term to be filled with this.
So you actually think the country is going to be destroyed.
Hope you have your MREs ready in your bunker.
a gun, a bible, and 1000 servings of jesusland mac and cheese.
I was just told I should lay off dairy. I will miss me some mac and cheese.
I don't think powdered cheese counts as dairy and I doubt their survival mac and cheese is what will ultimately prove to be fatal to most of the theocrats.
his attempt at comedy....and also, i heard some reporters sorta attempt to pull him out and declare how he is different than previous
Pay no attention that most of the times he mentioned donald, he was asked about him or his policy.
Donald Trump went on Fox News last night and complained about the election being stolen from him so much that the host, his media lackey Laura Ingraham, had to tell him she was moving on.
surprising, since she's on the short list for trumps "organ" donation...
Biden blames Trump at ever opportunity, Obama blamed Bush.. a tale as old as time.
Easier than accepting responsibility.
When did donald ever accept responsibility, unless something was going in a positive direction.
Trump Trump Trump Trump
Unlike his sycophantic worshippers, donald is long gone as far as I am concerned.
Although, no matter how hard some try, the stain he left behind will linger for a while.
Yet you respond to a comment about Biden and Obama by deflecting to Donald.
Uh, the seed is about Biden AND donald...
e seed is about Biden AND donald...
But the post you replied to was about Biden and Obama blaming their predecessors. Can't you address their conduct without deflecting to Trump?
So in other words, you could not address the seed correctly and deflected to Obama.
Then get upset when someone mentions donald...
I did. I addressed Biden's conduct, the actual point of the seed. You still can't justify deflecting to Donald Trump in response to my post that had nothing to do with Trump.
Are Biden and Obama that indefensible that you can't defend them on their own without deflecting to Trump?
The actual point of the seed is bullshit. Biden was asked about donald and he answered. The seed was trying to make it into something it was not.
Do you actually believe that donald never blamed Obama for anything?
Umm... The seed is about Joe Biden using Donald Trump as an excuse.
Biden made a lot of assertions; some were completely fabricated fictions. And we know, from experience, that the press treated Trump very differently than they are treating Biden.
Biden relying so heavily on the Trump card is an indicator that Biden knows he's in trouble. Biden is wiping away Trump's legacy and reviving Obama's legacy but he isn't receiving praise and plaudits. Everything is going sour and Biden needs excuses. It won't be long till the press smells the political blood in water and the honeymoon will be over.
The seed was about how many times Biden brought up donald or his policy...
He was asked about donald and answered. It even says that in the seed.
You all can keep saying that he is in trouble all you want, he sure as hell doesn't seem worried to me.
The actual point of the seed is bullshit. Biden was asked about donald and he answered.
No he wasn't. He brought up Trump eight times when asked about his (Biden's ) policies.
you actually believe that donald never blamed Obama for anything?
did I say that? Is Trump President, now?
Much ado about nothing, except for the perpetually have their panties in a twist crowd.
You just conveniently accused Biden and Obama and intentionally left out the one in the middle.
Now why would you do that, unless one is trying to elude to saying the one in the middle should be left out of these things, that all of them do.
I almost want to turn this around and ask why you all are so afraid of having to hear about donald. It is always quick to want to accuse people of being obsessed with him yet now I am thinking it is to shut up any narrative and stop people from talking about him.
And Biden had adopted the position that Trump is out and not worth giving attention. Biden is restoring normalcy and that shouldn't need any excuses.
Yet, here we are.
I can see that that your comment includes Trump too. Look for yourself...
Regarding optics, the president largely depended on multi-page notes that he curiously took with him to the podium. No president in the modern era has done that before, and when Biden began thumbing through his notes before slowly reading from them at times, it was uncomfortable to watch, considering he is the leader of the free world. It very likely sent a clear message to our adversaries in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea regarding the commander in chief's command of his own policies and worldview. It would have been nice for one reporter in the room to ask why he needed that kind of assistance, especially considering his nearly five decades in Washington.
Biden is projecting nothing but weakness, confusion, and indecision at this point
To the world no less..........................And they noticed.