Energized and campaigning hard, President Joe Biden tore into Republican proposals to undo prescription drug price caps and change Social Security and Medicare on Tuesday in Florida — and slammed GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis as “Donald Trump incarnate.”
In a final-week sprint for Democrats before Election Day, Biden will campaign in New Mexico on Thursday, California on Friday and Pennsylvania on Saturday. By many accounts, Democratic control of Congress and several statehouses is in peril, and Biden is trying to stem that tide.
In Florida, a state famously popular among retirees, he focused on federal programs for elderly people and the less well-to-do. He declared that the current crop of GOP candidates “ain’t your father’s Republican party” and said that he prayed God would deliver his opponents “some enlightenment.”
After those remarks in Hallandale Beach, he headlined a fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist in Golden Beach. He was also scheduled to speak at a rally for the state’s Democratic Party, including Senate candidate Val Demings.
At the event for Crist, Biden made the stakes personal against DeSantis. The Florida governor is a major adversary of the Biden White House and a potential 2024 candidate for the presidency. Biden suggested that DeSantis was just another version of former President Donald Trump and criticized him for “demonizing the LGBTQ population”
“This to me is one of the most important races in the country,” Biden said. “Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate.”
The president also blasted Republicans who made light of the attack against Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He asked how such a political assault could happen and “nobody in that party condemns it for exactly what it is.”
Biden tears into GOP, labels DeSantis ‘Trump incarnate’ | AP News