President Biden targets Project 2025, ties it to Trump at rousing Detroit rally
President Biden targeted the expansive far-right policy agenda known as Project 2025 in a rousing campaign stop in Detroit on Friday night as he sought to quell calls that he withdraw from the presidential election.
The president lambasted the multi-pronged initiative that was crafted by conservative think tanks, claiming it is "run and paid by Trump people, his top policy people."
"You heard about it? It's a blueprint for a second Trump term that every American should read and understand," Mr. Biden told more than 2,000 people at Renaissance High School.
Former President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and his campaign have worked to distance themselves from Project 2025. Trump has gone as far as to call some of the proposals "abysmal."
"I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it," he wrote on social media on Thursday. "The Radical Left Democrats are having a field day, however, trying to hook me into whatever policies are stated or said."
Mr. Biden on Friday accused his opponent of trying to run from the plan "just like he's trying to distance himself from overturning Roe vs. Wade because he knows how toxic it is. But we're not gonna let that happen."
Project 2025 is a proposed presidential transition project overseen by the conservative Heritage Foundation that includes a detailed blueprint for the next Republican president to usher in a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch.
Mr. Biden said Friday that Project 2025 is "the biggest attack on our system of government, our personal freedoms, that has ever been proposed in the history of this country."
Biden's rally – at the same school where, four years ago he positioned himself as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders – was a show of force in his team's relentless sprint to convince fretting lawmakers within his own party that he is still capable of being president.
"Folks, you've probably noticed there's a lot – a lot of speculation lately. What's Joe Biden going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out?" he told the crowd. "Here's my answer: I am running and we're going to win. And nothing's going to change that."
A spate of travel to battleground states, interviews with journalists and a rare solo news conference have not tamped down the angst within the party about Biden's candidacy and his prospects against Trump in November.
During his speech, Biden vowed to "shine a spotlight on Donald Trump" and what the presumptive Republican nominee would do if he returned to the White House.
"He inherited millions of dollars only to squander it. He's filed for bankruptcy six times," Biden said. "He even went bankrupt running a casino. I didn't think that was even possible. Doesn't the house always win in a casino?"
The president also criticized the media, claiming it was focusing on his errors and not on Trump's. It prompted his supporters to boo reporters in the room — a staple of Trump rallies — though Biden tried briefly to calm the jeers, saying "no, no, no."
"I guess they don't remember that Trump called Nikki Haley Nancy Pelosi. Well, no — no more. Donald, no more free passes. Today, we're going to shine a spotlight on Donald Trump," he said.
After the rally, Ken Jacobs, 71, said Biden's speech should put to rest any talk that he couldn't handle another four years in office.
"He should repeat that exact speech at the Democratic convention," Jacobs told The Associated Press. "It shows that he has the stamina for this."
Anne Baxter, 62, told the Associated Press that Biden is correct in staying in the race and decried the media, celebrities and other Democratic leaders calling on him to step down.
"I'm glad he's not listening to these knuckleheads, because it's not the base," the retired teacher said. "You heard these people here."
In 2016, Trump won Michigan by a thin margin attributed in part to reduced turnout in predominantly Black areas like Detroit's Wayne County, where Hillary Clinton received far fewer votes than former President Barack Obama did in previous elections.
Biden reclaimed much of that support four years ago, when he defeated Trump in Michigan by a 154,000-vote margin, but he has work to do. Detroit, which holds a population that is nearly 78% Black, saw a 12% turnout in the Feb. 27 primary, almost half that of the 23% total turnout in the state.
Key parts of Biden's coalition in Michigan are also upset with him over Israel's offensive following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. Michigan holds the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation, contributing to over 100,000 people voting "Uncommitted" in Michigan's Democratic primary in February.