BOSTON — President Biden said Tuesday he might not be seeking a second term if former president Donald Trump had not launched his own campaign for the White House.
Politics
Biden says he might not be running if Trump weren’t in the race
“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” Biden said at a campaign fundraiser in the Boston area. “But we cannot let him win.”
The comments punctuated a stretch that has seen Biden speaking in increasingly stark terms about the threat he says a second Trump term would pose to American democracy. The remarks also come as Biden, who turned 81 last month, has tried to downplay concerns in the Democratic Party about his age.
Polls have shown a tight race between Biden and Trump next year, an increasing source of angst for many Democrats. The Biden campaign has downplayed the polls, saying Biden will prevail once voters start focusing on the race in earnest, especially if Trump is the GOP nominee and Americans begin comparing the two nominees directly.
In the meantime, Biden has sought to frame Trump’s candidacy as an existential threat to the country. He has said Trump and what he calls “MAGA Republicans” are seeking to dismantle U.S. democracy and eliminate many of Americans’ fundamental rights.
During fundraisers in the Boston area Tuesday, the president warned of the restrictions he said Trump would place on abortion, and he emphasized the former president’s vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Biden also again raised the fact that Trump has called his political enemies “vermin,” saying the comments echo the language used in Germany in the 1930s, a time when the Nazis rose to power.
“I’ve been around in politics for a while, and I never thought I’d run in an election like this,” Biden said Tuesday of what is shaping up to be a rematch of the 2020 presidential election. “This time we’re running an election denier-in-chief. Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore.”
Biden also made light of his age during the fundraisers, as polls show many Democratic voters are deeply concerned about it.
During his first fundraiser Tuesday, Biden noted that he got 81 million votes in the 2020 election and joked, “Almost like somebody’s age. It’s hell turning 40 twice.” The president made a similar joke at a second fundraiser.
Biden’s candidacy has faced fresh questions in recent weeks as polls show that young voters — a group that was critical to his 2020 victory — disapprove of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Some Muslim American and Arab groups have also begun urging their communities not to support Biden in 2024. While Muslims and Arabs are not a large voter group, their votes could tip the scales in tightly contested states such as Michigan, which has a growing Arab American population.
Biden at times on Tuesday took an incredulous tone as he described Trump’s actions and comments. He noted that Trump, who continues to falsely deny that he lost the 2020 election, did not attend Biden’s inauguration, saying Trump was the first president to skip the inauguration of his successor.
“He didn’t even show up at my inauguration,” Biden said. “I can’t say I was disappointed. But he didn’t show up.”
Biden also signaled disbelief as he recounted Trump’s statement that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” He added, “What in God’s name is going on?”
Wang reported from Washington.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Quebec wants to curb excessive tipping.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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