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President Joe Biden went after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in sharp remarks at a Florida fundraiser Tuesday for Democrat Charlie Crist, who is struggling in the polls against the potential Republican presidential nominee for 2024.
Charlie is up against Donald Trump incarnate. This guy doesn’t fit into any of the categories I was talking about. The way he’s acting, the way he’s in denial,” Biden said at an event promoting Crist in Golden Beach.
A political rivalry ensues between Trump and DeSantis, who could make it to the Republican nomination, especially if DeSantis puts on a strong showing on Election Day in a week’s time.
‘I always say that democracy is on the agenda. I really mean it,” Biden said in his latest effort to bring election integrity and January 6 to the fore, at a time when polls show the majority of voters are focusing on record inflation and the economy.
He tore the way some Republicans reacted to the brutal hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, 82, at his San Francisco home by a suspect who police said yelled “Where’s Nancy.” David DePape was charged in a California court on Tuesday with attempted murder and other crimes.
President Joe Biden went after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in sharp remarks at a Florida fundraiser Tuesday for Democrat Charlie Crist, who is struggling in the polls against a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024.
An evolving political rivalry is brewing between Trump and DeSantis, who could snag the Republican nomination, especially if DeSantis puts on a strong showing on Election Day in a week.
‘Look what happened. I’m talking [about Speaker] Nancy Pelosi. Look what happened? And look at the reaction of so-called responsible Republicans, who are making fun of it,” Biden said without naming names.
Donald Trump Jr. is one of those who joked about the attack, with a Halloween-themed tweet picking up a conspiracy theory.
Biden said his opponents did it because “there are a lot of unstable people in the population.”
“The man buys a hammer to make a kneecap” the second in the line of succession, and yet no one in the Republican Party leadership condemned it, he said.
He referred to indictment documents that DePape said he planned to detain Pelosi and break her kneecaps if she didn’t tell the “truth.”
“If Nancy DePape told the truth, he’d let her go, and if she lied, he’d break her kneecaps,” a federal affidavit filed Monday said.
Biden even adopted a bizarre QAnon theory that describes Democrats as a cabal directing child trafficking out of basements as part of efforts to “demonize” opponents.
“Look on the internet and see what’s being said and talk about you know, kids in basements and all that sort of thing,” he said.
DePape’s former boss, Frank Ciccarelli, told the New York Times on Tuesday, speaking of his former employee: “He really believed in the whole MAGA, ‘Pizzagate,’ stolen election — you know, everything, all the way down to the last detail,” he said.
“These guys are extremely extreme,” Biden continued, battling Republicans in his fundraiser comments. In fact, leaders including Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) the attack. Former President Trump condemned the attack, then quickly turned to bashing violent crime in general.
“With Paul Pelosi it’s a terrible thing, with all of them it’s a terrible thing,” Trump told Americano Media, a Spanish-language site, on Friday. “Look at what has happened to San Francisco in general. Look at what’s happening in Chicago,” Trump continued.
“It’s really important that a state the size of Florida … is on the right side of history,” Biden said.
The president said there had been no such rejection of democracy since the Civil War. Perhaps to underscore the point, he was spotted with author Jon Meacham’s new book, whose “Soul of America” set them the foundation for Biden’s 2020 run.
Meacham’s new book, on Abraham Lincoln, And Then There Was Light, chronicles the 16th president’s struggles against secession and threats to democracy.
Biden faces headwinds in Florida. DeSantis leads Crist by 12 points in the RealClearPolitics poll average. But by visiting, Biden is laying a milestone in a state that will be pivotal in presidential politics, even if it has drifted away from Democrats as a national battleground.
He tore the way some Republicans reacted to the brutal hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, 82, at his San Francisco home by a suspect who police said yelled “Where’s Nancy.” David DePape was charged in a California court on Tuesday with attempted murder and other crimes.
Trump will follow the campaign trail this weekend in a last-ditch effort for candidates he has supported ahead of next Tuesday’s vote