President Joe Biden kicked off a travel blitz Friday after his State of the Union address, heading to the critical swing state of Pennsylvania to drive home some of the key points he delivered during Thursday’s address.
The president’s speech in a solidly Democratic county almost immediately attacked former President Donald Trump. Biden criticized his record on reproductive rights issues and invoked a family impacted by Alabama’s controversial state Supreme Court ruling that embryos are considered children, which prompted in vitro fertilization providers to halt services.
“Do you know why it happened? I’ll tell you why. One reason: Donald Trump,” Biden said Friday of that family’s paused IVF plans. “He came to office determined to overturn Roe v. Wade. In fact, he’s bragged about it repeatedly.”
The president then pivoted to issues including cooling inflation, lowering prescription drug prices and his demand to ban assault weapons.
“Too many corporations raise their prices and pad their profits, charging you more and more for less and less,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations engaged in price gouging and deceptive pricing.”
Biden also drew a contrast between his governing philosophy and Trump’s.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace the future. I mean it sincerely: freedom, democracy, [and a] future based on the core values that have defined America,” Biden said. “Honesty, decency, fairness, equality.””Donald Trump sees the story differently,” Biden added. “He sees a story of resentment, revenge, retribution.”President Joe Biden, right, is escorted by Air Force Cpt. Eric Anderson, 89th Airlift Wing Flightline protocol officer, as first lady Jill Biden, left, talks to Col. Angela Ochoa, commander of the 89th Airlift Wing,
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. on March 8, 2024.Luis M. Alvarez / AP
The audience included people who have volunteered or worked for the Democratic Party, the Biden campaign or a similar organization. The high-energy crowd occasionally broke into chants of “four more years.”
Before the president’s speech, first lady Jill Biden delivered a forceful rebuke of her husband’s predecessor: “Donald Trump insults our veterans and disparages those who died in war, calling them ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’ How dare he?”
“We must meet this moment as if our rights are at stake, because they are,” the first lady said. “As if our democracy is on the line, because it is.”
source:nbc
