Joe Biden warns of a ‘very, very dark moment’ as he hits out at Trump
Speaking at the Nebraska Democratic Party fundraising dinner in Omaha, Biden condemned Trump for “intentionally exacerbating hunger for America” and accused him of throwing a “wrecking ball” at the White House, the Constitution and the rule of law while enriching his own family.
“The American people are sending a message, they’re sending that message to Trump and his crowd,” Biden said, at times shouting or meandering as he often did in the later years of his presidency. “I just want you to know, you work for us, Mr. President. We don’t work for you.”
In his first overt political speech since leaving office, Biden warned that the country was heading into tough times but said this week’s elections were cause for optimism.
“Folks, look, this is not a golden age,” Biden said. “It’s actually a very, very dark moment. But, you know, the truth of the matter is that we’re in a situation where something very special happened last Tuesday.”
A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since Biden left office, many Democrats appeared willing to break with him. He did not attend former President Barack Obama’s recent gubernatorial campaigns in New Jersey and Virginia, although he was invited to attend arena rallies in those states last weekend. A handful of Democrats visited his home in Delaware, but few chose to publicize their meetings. Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson stopped to play chess with Biden last month, and Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin visited the former president the day after he won the election to lead the party apparatus.
Biden, 82, listed some of his biggest hits during his 30-minute speech in Omaha. He talked about how unions helped build the middle class, exaggerated (“I was on the Foreign Affairs Committee when I was 24”) and sprinkled a dozen “nation” words into his speeches.
He called for reopening the federal government and ending the shutdown and spoke movingly about his experience battling prostate cancer. He reserved his harshest criticisms of Trump for cuts to funding for cancer research and other health care.
“I think it’s immoral, it’s un-American, it’s absolutely wrong,” Biden said. “You have to ask yourself: Why? Why in God’s name are they doing this? Why? Well, I’ll tell you why. They’re giving away an additional $4 trillion in tax breaks to benefit the richest people in America.”
Biden has not been a regular on the party’s chicken dinners or fundraising tours, where donors are much more likely to appeal to Obama or members of a broad field of potential 2028 presidential candidates.
Nebraska is a rare place where Biden is welcome, and he was warmly welcomed by local Democrats who waved “Jomaha” signs to the crowd. After finishing his speech, Biden remained on stage and was wrapped in a blanket by Native American tribal leaders in Nebraska.
While Vice President Kamala Harris lost seven battleground states, she carried Nebraska’s competitive 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha. Before Biden spoke, Nebraska Democrats played a clip in which cable networks called him the winner of the district’s electoral votes on election night 2020. Nebraska is one of two states that cast their presidential electoral votes by congressional district.
Although the former president has occasionally been spotted driving Amtrak, there have been very few public appearances in recent months. In May, he sat down for a poorly received interview on ABC’s “The View” as he attempted to walk back revelations in the books that he had mentally and physically declined while on duty.
That same month, Biden’s aides announced that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. In September, he had surgery to remove skin cancer lesions on his forehead and began receiving radiation therapy at Penn Medicine Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia.
