Biden Secures Democratic Nomination for Presidential Rematch Against Trump

(CTN News) – President Joe Biden, who began office intending to stabilise a nation convulsed by the coronavirus pandemic and the Jan. 6 insurgency, earned a second straight Democratic nomination Tuesday, setting up an all-but-certain rematch with his predecessor, whom he blames for destabilising the country.

Biden became his party’s presumed nominee after winning enough delegates in Georgia. That increased Biden’s lead over 1,968 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, where his candidature will be officially announced. Former President Donald Trump is anticipated to capture the Republican nomination soon.

Biden, who ran for president 37 years ago, faced no significant Democratic challengers in his reelection campaign at 81. This is despite his low approval ratings and a lack of voter enthusiasm for his presidency, partly attributed to his age.

A recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found that only 38% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s performance as president, while 61% disapprove.

Biden and his backers are banking that, despite their reservations, his Democratic base and independent voters terrified of a second Trump administration will support him during a brutal seven-and-a-half-month general election.

Financial Advantage and Campaign Strategy of Biden

The campaign’s focus on Trump’s perceived flaws, paired with his attacks on Biden, creates a lacklustre campaign that many Americans oppose but must vote on in November.

Biden has framed the contest as a war for freedom, domestically and internationally. He contrasts his support for Ukraine and efforts to strengthen NATO with Trump’s admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his proposal that Russia might strike NATO nations he considers delinquent.

“We face a sobering reality,” Biden said Tuesday after securing the nomination. “Freedom and democracy are under threat here at home in a level they have not been since the Civil War. Donald Trump is waging a campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that undermines the whole concept of America.”

He said, “I believe that the American people will choose to keep us moving into the future.”

Biden is opposing GOP-led moves to restrict abortion rights, which have also threatened in vitro fertilisation operations.

Democrats attribute their recent political success to the backlash caused by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal right to abortion. Trump picked three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and claimed credit for the decision.

Despite significant accomplishments and what his friends regard as advantages on important topics, Biden faces a rematch with Trump with flaws he can’t readily address.

During his first two years in office, Biden implemented long-term infrastructure improvements and increased funding for the semiconductor industry. The Senate confirmed Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, making Ketanji Brown Jackson the first Black woman to become a justice.

Following the COVID-19 epidemic, the United States experienced economic growth and low unemployment rates. Biden approved revising the Electoral Count Act to make it more difficult for presidential losers to challenge election results in Congress following Trump’s 2020 election loss based on unsubstantiated fraud accusations.

Biden administration officials urged Putin against invading Ukraine and declassified intelligence to rally international support for the country. Ukraine has resisted Russia’s intentions to replace President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a puppet administration, relying on weapons and information from the US and Western Europe. As a result, the country has maintained control over most of its land.

The disastrous U.S. pullout from Afghanistan created vivid pictures of desperate people fleeing the land that American troops fought to secure for two decades but lost in a matter of months to the Taliban. A suicide explosion outside Kabul airport killed 13 US forces during the evacuation of American civilians and allies.

Inflationary pressures eroded income gains for many Americans as the economy expanded. Inflation has fallen since its peak two years ago, but only 34% of US adults agree with Biden’s handling of the economy, according to an AP-NORC poll.

Despite campaigning to reverse Trump’s immigration crackdown, Biden’s White House struggled to process record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization, often thousands per day. Republican states bused migrants to Democratic-led cities, which struggled to accommodate them.

Biden’s campaign argues that the White House has reduced inflation and presented border legislation, which Republicans helped negotiate but ultimately rejected.

However, the president’s age remains one of people’s most serious concerns about his candidature.

Biden, already the oldest president in American history, would be 86 if he served his whole second term. Regardless of the outcome of the November election, he or Trump would become the oldest leader ever sworn in on Inauguration Day 2025.

Just hours before earning the nomination, Biden faced hours of evidence from a special counsel who reviewed his mishandling of confidential documents and found that he couldn’t charge the president due to forgetfulness. Robert Hur, the prosecutor, described Biden in his report as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

The president’s age has become a major vulnerability on the campaign trail, though many people have similar reservations about Trump, who is 77. According to the most recent AP-NORC survey, 63% are sceptical of Biden’s mental abilities to function effectively as president. And 57% answered the same about Trump.

In both his State of the Union speech and a new campaign video, Biden emphasised the need for experience while also injecting humour.

As he told Congress this week, “I know I don’t look it, but I’ve been around for a while. When you reach my age, certain things become clearer than ever.”

Biden claims he has shown to be a more effective leader than Trump. He and the Democrats also have a substantial monetary edge over Trump and the Republicans heading into November, as the president raised $10 million in the 24 hours following his address.

There is evidence that Trump’s campaign’s focus on Trump is effective. Since all major Democrats declined to challenge Biden in the primary, no Democrat has consented to join No Labels’ well-funded drive to form a “unity ticket.”

Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota was among the few Democrats to run before dropping out. Before Minnesota’s Super Tuesday primary last week, many furious with Biden said they weren’t aware of Phillips’ challenge or saw it as a distraction from beating Trump.

According to one voter, Aishah Al-Sehaim of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, “It’s not even about hope to affect change in the coming years, but simply that things don’t get more screwed up nationally and internationally.”

Biden’s backers believe that a protest vote campaign for Israel’s battle with Hamas will diminish by November, forcing liberals and people of colour to choose between him and Trump. For 30,000 people were killed in Israel’s onslaught following the October 7 bombings.

In 2012, then-President Obama saw several “uncommitted” delegates emerge from uncontested primaries, particularly in conservative states.

“In terms of where he is now, he’s been in tougher spots, and I know he feels confident,” said longtime Biden ally and former Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman. “I sure feel confident.”

Biden initially sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1988, but his campaign was derailed when it was revealed that he had plagiarised speeches. His 2008 candidature ended after a bad showing in the Iowa caucuses, and his 2020 campaign was on life support until he turned it around with a win in the South Carolina primary, eventually consolidating the party’s support.

“Sure beats the hell out of the alternative,” Kaufman joked about the simpler path to nomination this time. That doesn’t mean it’s not tough; it doesn’t mean it doesn’t take character.”