For six months, Joe Biden managed to almost ignore his predecessor, treating Donald Trump’s lies and conspiracies as distractions. But returning to Friday’s campaign in Northern Virginia, the president introduced Trump with his emerging tone of opposition to the Democratic Party.
“I ran against Donald Trump, and so is Terry,” Biden said at a rally, supporting the return of former Governor Terry McAuliffe, adding to the comparison between his Republican opponent Glenyankin and the former president, “I whipped Donald Trump in Virginia, and so will Terry.”
Biden continued his improvisation, implying that Yan King was“an acolyte for Donald Trump — for real.” Biden also mentioned Trump’s embrace of the crowd during the January 6 uprising, adding: “I was told there were a lot of peaceful, wonderful people?”
Biden’s broader comments focused on his administration’s work to end the pandemic and turn the economy around, spending trillions of dollars on infrastructure and social programs (such as child tax credits), reducing drug prices, and increasing taxes. Tax the rich.
However, the fact that Trump has been focusing on the Virginia campaign since the previous year allows us to predict how he and the leading Democrats plan to approach Trump’s long-term shadow over Republicans. In Virginia, Trump supported Youngkin on three different occasions, and Democrats have been praying that Biden’s appearance will lead Trump to host an event for the Republican candidate.
The rally was held in front of the nearly 3,000 people who barely wear masks in Arlington, just over 100 days before the Virginia general election, which will put McAuliffe against the first-time candidate and former Carlyle Group executive Yang Jin.
The election of the governor of the Commonwealth almost always runs counter to the ruling party. In the past 40 years, only one candidate won the governorship when his party controlled the White House: McAuliffe, who won by a narrow margin in 2013.
Biden and his aides are eager to use this campaign to show that the president will be committed to building the party, hoping to avoid entering the playoffs in the vote. The rally followed the announcement by the Democratic National Committee that it would invest at least $5 million in Virginia before the election, which the party called “biggest investment in the commonwealth in history.”
The polls in the campaign have been slim, but it is expected to beat Biden by 10 points over Trump, and the outgoing Governor Ralph Northam won uncontrollably in 2017, with McAuliffe slightly preference.
McAuliffe and other Virginia Democrats also tried to link Youngkin to Trump. “Why is it that Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump are so close?”McAuliffe said at the rally.
Yankin’s camp insists that McAuliffe is someone connected with Trump. A truck with a digital billboard displayed a campaign advertisement, emphasizing that Trump had donated money to McAuliffe’s previous campaign and surrounded the rally.
McAuliffe’s information during his tenure in Richmond also focused on economics. He also praised the coronavirus recovery plan. “The American Rescue Plan has injected new life into our economy,” McAuliffe said.
The rally was also the second day after McAuliffe launched his first general election TV commercial. From Thursday until next Wednesday, McAuliffe’s TV advertising expenditures are at least $525,000. In the advertisement, McAuliffe called Yan King “a loyalist to Donald Trump.”
At the same time, Youngkin has been on the air almost since the Democratic primaries in early June, and no one opposed it until this week.