SCRANTON, PA — The President Joe Biden He returned to his hometown of Pennsylvania, making his last campaign stop for the vice president on Saturday Kamala Harris and unleash them again — offering their unfiltered political sentiments it has become quite common in recent weeks
Biden took a hard look at Harris’s opponent, the former Republican president Donald Trumpand his supporters on political issues during a speech in Scranton, but later suggested he would push back – literally – on the false “macho boys”.
“There’s one thing that Trump and his Republican friends want to do. They want to have a huge tax cut for the rich,” Biden told the local chapter of the carpenters union. Then, apparently referring to people who support Trump, he added: “Now, I know some of you You’re tempted to think some are macho boys.”
“I’m telling you, man, when I was in Scranton, every now and then we had a little trouble going down the lot,” Biden continued. “.
At a rally in North Carolina on Saturday night, Trump poked fun at Biden, asking the crowd, “I don’t know, is he still around?”
Biden’s comments in Scranton drew laughter from the crowd. But it was another moment when he strayed from his political script, something that happens frequently with the president now, even though his promotional role for Harris was strictly limited, making few stops on the campaign trail. his former competitor.
Earlier this week, Biden sparked an uproar in response racist comments at a recent Trump rally made by comedians Tony Hinchcliffe, He referred to the US island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.
“The only garbage I see floating out there are his supporters,” Biden said in response.
White House press officers changed the official transcript Biden’s remarks drew objections from federal employees who transcribe what the president says for posterity, according to two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained by The Associated Press.
And the reference to “garbage” followed Biden — most recently at a campaign office in New Hampshire — Trump said“We’ve got to get it together” before quickly changing his comments to mean Democrats need to “lock him in politically.”
Biden’s remarks on Saturday come as gender issues and partisan loyalties between men and women have emerged as central features of the campaign.
Trump has been pushing masculine tropes throughout his campaign in an effort to garner more male voters. He has advocated a return to traditional gender roles and addressed issues such as protect women ” in the closing days of the “like it or not” campaign.
Harris has taken a very different approach, pledging to protect access to abortion and increase government spending to cover the costs of housing and childcare for families.
Although he spent decades as a senator from Delaware, Biden spent his childhood in Scranton and Saturday’s event was a homecoming for the estranged president in many ways. He spoke at the same union hall he visited on Election Day 2020
“Let them know how important this election is,” Biden told the crowd of about 200 enthusiastic supporters. When he declared, “I’m nothing special,” an audience member yelled, “You sure are,” prompting chants of “Thanks, Joe.”
The President called on the participants to vote “for you and your families, the people you grew up with, those who are coming”.
“Don’t forget where you came from,” Biden said to cheers and applause. “Don’t leave behind the people you grew up with.”
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Weissert reported from Washington.
