{"id":21054,"date":"2023-12-06T01:15:16","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T07:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=21054"},"modified":"2023-12-06T01:15:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T07:15:21","slug":"biden-tells-donors-if-trump-wasnt-running-im-not-sure-id-be-running-we-cannot-let-him-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=21054","title":{"rendered":"Biden tells donors: \u2018If Trump wasn\u2019t running I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d be running. We cannot let him win\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden<\/u><\/a> told campaign donors Tuesday that he wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d be running for reelection if Donald Trump wasn\u2019t also in the race, warning that democracy is \u201cmore at risk in 2024\u201d and that the former president and his allies are out to \u201cdestroy\u201d democratic institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president was using a trio of fundraisers to caution against what might happen should his predecessor again claim control of the White House, noting that Trump has described himself as his supporters\u2019 \u201cretribution\u201d and has vowed to root out \u201cvermin\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get it done, not because of me. … If Trump wasn\u2019t running I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d be running. We cannot let him win,\u201d Biden said, hitting the last words slowly for emphasis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s forceful rhetoric came as Trump, the current GOP front-runner, who tried to overturn the 2020 election he lost and is facing criminal charges connected to those efforts, attempted over the weekend<\/u><\/a> to turn the tables by calling Biden the \u201cdestroyer of American democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Trump on Tuesday<\/u><\/a> was asked by Fox News Channel\u2019s Sean Hannity to promise he \u201cwould never abuse power as retribution against anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcept for day one,\u201d Trump responded. \u201cI want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter that I\u2019m not a dictator,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s campaign quickly seized on the comments with an email that read, \u201cDonald Trump: Day One Dictator.\u201d Later, Biden told reporters, \u201cHe is running and I have to run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden, who said he is not alone in sounding the alarm over Trump, noted that Trump is the \u201conly losing candidate\u201d in U.S. history to not accept the results. Biden also said that on Jan. 6, 2021, as Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to stop the certification of the election results, Trump sat in his dining room just off the Oval Office, \u201cwatching them threaten his own vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden also highlighted recent warnings about Trump from former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., calling her a \u201cpowerful voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmerican democracy, I give you my word as a Biden, is at stake,\u201d the president said at the first of three campaign fundraisers in the Boston area. Drawing some laughter from donors, Biden also mused: \u201cHe didn\u2019t even show up at my inauguration. I can\u2019t say I was disappointed, but he didn\u2019t even show up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warnings by Biden are increasingly part of his pitch to donors: that democracy is at stake if Trump were to win again and he must be defeated. The president is pushing to raise money for his reelection effort before the end of the year, appearing at seven events through Monday \u2014 with more to come. The events in Boston on Tuesday benefit his campaign and the broader Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They included an evening event in the city\u2019s theater district featuring a concert by singer-songwriter James Taylor<\/u><\/a>, who helped kick off a White House event in 2022 celebrating the Inflation Reduction Act<\/u><\/a>, a climate and health care bill that Biden signed into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onstage, Biden joked to the packed theater audience that he wouldn\u2019t be long because he knew he was \u201cthe only thing standing\u201d between the audience and the performance by Taylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always going to defend protect and fight for democracy,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m running.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November was the campaign\u2019s strongest grassroots fundraising month since Biden formally announced last April that he was seeking a second term<\/u><\/a>, according to a campaign official who insisted on anonymity to discuss campaign finances before details are made public. The numbers will be released in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, Biden and the Democratic National Committee reported raising more than $71 million for his reelection<\/u><\/a> in the three months ending Sept. 30, a sign that donors remained behind him going into the 2024 presidential race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden had only political events on his public schedule for Tuesday, which is rare. Presidents who are running for reelection typically include an official event, like a policy speech, on the schedule to help defray costs for their campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden will also attend a fundraiser Wednesday near the White House and another one Monday in Philadelphia. He\u2019ll headline fundraisers in Washington, D.C., and in Maryland later in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Biden will head to Los Angeles for a big-dollar event that will be his first since strikes by writers and actors effectively ground his fundraising to a halt in the heart of the entertainment industry, which has long served as a major source of campaign money for Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event is slated to be at the home of Michael Smith, a celebrity interior designer who decorated the White House for President Barack Obama, and Smith\u2019s partner, James Costos, a former HBO executive who was Obama\u2019s ambassador to Spain. It is expected to raise millions of dollars and draw a crowd of celebrities. Rocker Lenny Kravitz is slated to perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Film director Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, who starred in \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,\u201d are among the hosts of the event, as are recording industry mogul David Geffen, \u201cScandal\u201d showrunner Shonda Rhimes and \u201cThis is Spinal Tap\u201d director Rob Reiner, according to an invitation obtained by the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is also a co-host. Barbra Streisand is set to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of the last fundraising reporting deadline at the end of September, Biden and his party reported $91 million cash on hand.<\/u><\/a> He is helped by the fact that as the party\u2019s leader he has entered into a joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee, as well as state parties, which enables him to receive a check from a single donor that is in the range of $1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden told campaign donors Tuesday that he wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d be running for reelection if Donald Trump wasn\u2019t also in the race, warning that democracy is \u201cmore at risk in 2024\u201d and that the former president and his allies are out to \u201cdestroy\u201d democratic institutions. The president was using a trio of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1169,8782,23989,1600,1230],"class_list":["post-21054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-biden","tag-donors","tag-running","tag-told","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21056,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21054\/revisions\/21056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}