President Joe Biden gave his first public comments on J.D. Vance, on Monday and talked to DailyMail.com about whether he has faith in his Secret Service detail.
On his way to Las Vegas for a two-day campaign trip, Biden stopped to talk to reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. He said of Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick: ‘A clone of Trump on the issues. I don’t see any difference.’
And when DailyMail.com asked him if he had faith in his Secret Service detail, Biden said: ‘Yes i do.’
The president has defended the Secret Service, who are being criticized for letting a shooter get on a roof so close to the security perimeter at Trump’s rally, allowing a clear shot at the former president.
Biden had a more visible security presence with him during his travel to the West Coast. Four agents flanked Marine One when it landed at Joint Base Andrews and the agents formed a tight perimeter around the president when he landed at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
President Joe Biden answered DailyMail.com’s question about whether he has faith in his Secret Service detail
Trump, meanwhile, joined the Republican National Convention on Monday night. He walked out on stage to cheers and calls of ‘fight, fight, fight.’
The former president had a white bandage on his right ear. Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks grazed Trump’s ear when he fired on him at his rally at Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night.
Trump sat in a box at the convention with Vance and several members of his family, including children Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany, to listen to the evening’s speakers. Melania Trump was not there. The theme of the first night of the convention was ‘Make America wealthy again.
Biden, meanwhile, will spend the next two days in Las Vegas, where he will spend two days talking to black and latino voters as he struggles to reset his campaign in the new political reality.
As part of the trip, he and his team will be testing the waters on how it can push forward with his candidacy without appearing insensitive to Trump.
Several conservatives pointed to Biden’s campaign rhetoric as a reason Trump was targeted. Both sides have spoken harshly of the other.
There is one worry the president may be able to put to rest: calls for him to step down as the Democrats’ nominee.
Not a single Democrat has called for him to exit the race since Saturday’s shooting.
Members of the party now seem to think replacing Biden would cause even more chaos in the race, which was upended by the assassination attempt on Trump.
And still more think the failed assassination attempt shifts the dynamics of the race to Trump’s advantage.
One Democratic donor told Bloomberg News that they previously believed that Biden should be replaced but it shouldn’t happen now as it would contribute to a sense of chaos.
And there is an impending sense that victory is Trump’s for the taking – no matter who is on the Democratic ticket.
Pollster Frank Luntz noted the shooting will ‘guarantee that every Trump supporter now will be a Trump voter in November. Trump’s voters are energized, Biden’s voters are demoralized.’
‘It’s hard to imagine either Biden or any of the potential Democratic candidates delivering full-throated crowd-pleasing attacks on the former President now, taking away most of their ability to play the Trump card by labeling him a ‘threat to democracy’ when he just survived a real threat to democracy,’ he wrote in a thread on X.
‘The 2024 presidential election is now Trump’s to lose.’
Donald Trump with running mate J.D. Vance at the Republican National Convention
Biden has tried to tamp down on the anxiety that spread across the political sphere after the horrific attempt on Trump’s life.
He addressed the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday where he called for an end to political violence, noting both Republicans and Democrats have been a target of it.
‘You know the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,’ Biden said. ‘Politics must never be a literal battlefield – God forbid a killingfield.’
The president said it was time for unity. And he noted he had a ‘short but good’ call with Trump.
Many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that the political attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment.
They pointed in particular to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying ‘it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.’
Trump, however, also has used fighting words and images of violence in his campaign rhetoric.
Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Sniper team stand guard near Air Force One at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas
While in Las Vegas, Biden will address the 15th NAACP National Convention on Tuesday and conduct an interview with BET. He’ll also participate in an economic summit with Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford.
On Wednesday, Biden is the keynote speaker at the UnidosUS Annual Conference at the MGM Grand and then he’ll have a campaign event.
His Vegas trip was supposed to be the second of two campaign stops this week.
But his Monday visit to Austin, Texas, where he was to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, was canceled after the shooting attempt on Trump.
