President Biden makes trip to Florida for fundraisers in Miami, Jupiter
President Joe Biden gets West Palm Beach welcome from local mayors
President Joe Biden was greeted by Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Sachs and West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James after arriving at Palm Beach International Airport Jan. 30, 2024.
JUPITER — President Joe Biden touted his administration’s achievements during an afternoon fundraiser in which he mocked Donald “Herbert Hoover” Trump in his home county.
Biden spoke at the Pelican Club on the Jupiter waterfront, about 23 miles north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lahgo club and estate in Palm Beach. Biden delivered a roughly 20-minute speech to an audience of mostly lawyers and professionals. He extolled what he said were policies in the last three years that got the “economy roaring” in the wake of the 2020 pandemic and business shutdown that left the country “reeling.”
Biden claimed his administration’s policies have created a “record” 14 million new jobs. The American Rescue Plan, he added, put money in people’s pockets when they needed it most three years ago and helped cut child poverty. And he again spoke of the Inflation Reduction Act, which he signed, and other measures that have lowered pharmaceutical prices, such as for insulin, and reduced the student debt burden on public servants, like teachers and firefighters.
Biden also noted that inflation, which spiraled to a 40-year high in his term, has leveled off and that consumer confidence has bounced back while unemployment remains low and economic growth is robust.
Last week’s government report showed that prices rose just 0.2% from November to December, a pace consistent with pre-pandemic levels and barely above the Fed’s 2% annual target. The unemployment rate remained flat at 3.7% for December, according to the jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Look how far we’ve come,” Biden said.
The president, though, then misspoke, saying the administration’s efforts had vaccinated 720 million Americans, a figure that is more than double the country’s population. A corrected readout of the speech issued by the White House press office later corrected it to 270 million people.
Biden, Trump and RNC chair trade barbs
On Thursday afternoon, Trump taunted Biden with a series of posts on his social media site chiding the Biden administration for 302,034 undocumented people who entered the country in December. A day earlier, Trump claimed credit for the ongoing stock market surge, saying it was driven by polls he says show him beating Biden in November.
As Biden landed in West Palm Beach, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel issued a statement saying the president was speaking at a private fundraiser because he “knows that he can’t win over everyday voters.”
The statement also said: “Florida’s election results will be even more embarrassing for Biden this year than in 2020.”
Biden, though, noted Trump’s comment earlier this month in which the former president and Palm Beach resident said he hopes the economy and stock market crash this year. Trump added that he didn’t want to suffer the same fate as the nation’s 32nd president, Herbert Hoover, who witnessed the onset of the Great Depression during his lone term in office.
“That’s a nice thing to say … It’s unbelievable,” Biden said, adding that Trump knows the U.S. economy is strong and he fears that it will hurt him. “He knows that while it’s good for America, it’s bad for him politically.”
Biden then brought up Trump’s remark about Hoover.
“He’s already Herbert Hoover,” Biden said, stating that the U.S. economy lost jobs during Trump’s term. “He’s Donald Herbert Hoover Trump.”
Biden met at airport, spoke with county and city officials about infrastructure
Upon his arrival in Air Force One, Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Sachs and West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James greeted Biden at the bottom of the stairway leading out of the plane.
Sachs said the president spoke of the importance of local government and his roots in county government. Sachs was recently appointed as mayor of Palm Beach County by the county commission.
“He really was engaged and wanting to help the infrastructure for the people of the city of West Palm Beach and the people of the county,” Sachs said. “It was an opportunity to speak to the president of the United States on behalf of the people.”
James said he spoke with Biden about infrastructure bills that affect and benefit West Palm Beach. He said that Biden told the two mayors that the hardest job he ever had was as a county commissioner.
“I really just wanted to thank him for all he’s done for cities with the infrastructure bill because funding was now coming directly to cities,” James said. “He didn’t seem like he was trying to rush his way at all.”
Biden’s’ plane was parked near the one belonging to former President Donald Trump. Once Biden went into the motorcade, it circled around Air Force One and headed to Jupiter. Biden is scheduled to appear in Miami for a similar fundraiser later Tuesday.
Biden decries Trump and the threat to American democracy
At the start of his speech, Biden recalled his 2020 campaign theme that espoused preserving the “soul of America.” He said, at the time, he was asked what he meant. But, he said, after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and Trump’s harsh stump speech declarations and interview musings about being a “dictator,” it’s clear what the message is, Biden said.
“People don’t ask me that question anymore,” he said. “They don’t think, they don’t doubt, democracy is at risk.”
Biden closed by referring to the corner dining room in the White House, not far from the Oval Office, from where Trump is said to have watched the attack on the Capitol three years ago.
“He sat in that room for hours watching what happened on Jan. 6. Just watching,” he said. “It’s called insurrection.”
Biden cited Trump’s comments in the past about his desire to “terminate elements of the Constitution and condemned his “embrace” of political violence. Biden said this generation of Americans has the opportunity to stake a claim in history.
“When American democracy was at risk, like it is now, we saved it,” he said. “Just remember who in God’s name we are. We’re the United States of America for God’s sake. There’s nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.”
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
