5 takeaways from dueling events: Biden-Harris and Trump

Thursday saw dueling events on the 2024 campaign trail.

President Biden and Vice President Harris appeared together for their first fully public event since she supplanted him as the Democratic nominee. 

Meanwhile, former President Trump sought again to take back the spotlight from Harris by holding a news conference at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club.

The Biden-Harris event in suburban Maryland was billed as an official White House event to promote efforts to rein in the price of prescription drugs. But, in reality, it was a show of unity before next week’s Democratic National Convention. Biden is expected to speak at the convention, held in Chicago, on Monday. Harris will deliver her big speech Thursday.

There was never any mistaking the political nature of Trump’s event. In its opening moments, the former president labeled Harris a “radical California liberal.”

Here are the main takeaways from both gatherings.

Harris and Biden pull off delicate dance 

The stage management of the Biden-Harris event was one of its most notable features.

The dynamic between the two is inherently delicate. There is far more Democratic excitement about Harris and her candidacy than about the sitting president. Yet she cannot appear disrespectful or dismissive of him.

The duo handled the situation about as well as possible.

Biden and Harris emerged together, and she offered lavish praise toward him as he stood beside her. 

“I could speak all afternoon about the person who I am standing on this stage with — our extraordinary President Joe Biden,” Harris said, as the supportive crowd chanted “Thank you, Joe.”

She still carved out some moments to emphasize her own role, as when she recalled that she had “cast the tie-breaking vote” to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in the Senate. “I was proud when our president, Joe Biden, signed that bill into law,” she added.

Harris left the stage when Biden began speaking, and he swiftly paid tribute to her ability to make “one hell of a president.”

None of this solves the intrinsic difficulty of preserving Biden’s dignity while Harris carries the Democratic standard into November’s election. But it did keep any awkwardness to a minimum.

Trump doubles down on personal attacks

Trump spoke at considerable length — and in his usual meandering style — for much of his Bedminster news conference.

In addition to trying to paint Harris as a radical who stands outside the American mainstream, he sought to tether her to Biden’s record. Biden has low approval ratings overall, as well as on the central issue of the economy.

Trump also made his standard flights into hyperbole, however. At one point, condemning the Biden-Harris economic record, he contended that mortgage rates are around 10 percent. As of Thursday, the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was about 6.5 percent. 

Later, asked whether personal attacks on Harris were counterproductive, Trump — perhaps predictably — defended his right to go after his opponent

The former president said: “I think I’m entitled to the personal attacks. I don’t have a lot of respect for her. I don’t have a lot of respect for her intelligence, and I think she’d be a terrible president.”

Those kinds of jabs won’t calm those Republicans who had hoped to see a more forward-looking campaign.

Trump also sounded peevish at times, perhaps as a consequence of polls showing Harris has erased the advantage he had been enjoying over Biden.

He complained that neither he nor GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) are “weird,” as Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), has repeatedly suggested.

He also objected to a recent Time magazine story about Harris, which featured a drawing of her, rather than a photograph, on the cover.

“They got a great artist to do it. What was that all about?” Trump ruminated.

Not all of Trump’s complaints were without merit. 

At one point, he contended that Harris had been seen as Biden’s “border czar” but had latterly sought to distance herself from that role and title.

“Everybody said it. And then about two weeks ago she didn’t want to be called the border czar any more,” Trump complained.

While there is no such official title, it is true that Harris was frequently referred to in those terms earlier in the Biden presidency. She was trying to ameliorate long-term drivers of migration at the time.

Biden shows some fire and frailty

The catastrophic nature of Biden’s late-June debate against Trump has sharpened focus on his age and cognitive abilities. 

Many Democrats will be holding their breath Monday when he delivers his big convention speech.

But the president can defy the naysayers — most of the time — when delivering prepared remarks.

On Thursday, he grew fiery at times. He referenced Project 2025, the hard-right plan for a second Trump administration, which was proposed by the Heritage Foundation but has been disavowed by the former president.

“Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is: Beat the hell out of them,” Biden said.

Elsewhere, he referred to Trump as ”Donald Dump.”

But Biden did stumble over some lines, including seeming confused over whether one woman whose situation he was citing as an example of overly burdensome drug costs had been paying $900 or $9,000 per year for medication. 

Trump muses on campaign and his Biden debate

Internal GOP critics contend that Trump’s team was slow out of the blocks after Biden stepped aside and Harris swiftly seized the Democratic nomination.

Now there are some personnel moves afoot in Trump World, with Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager early in the 2016 campaign, among those returning to the fold. 

But Trump pushed back on any suggestion that his campaign had been caught flat-footed recently.

“I think that we’ve done very well. I think that we’re hitting a nerve,” he said.

As the news conference wrapped up, Trump was asked whether he regretted debating Biden so early in the cycle — the implication being that the June 27 debate gave Democrats enough time to replace the president as their nominee.

Trump appeared to give the matter some thought.

“I don’t mind the question that you’re asking,” he told the reporter. But “it would have been a better question to ask of Joe Biden, because had he not done the debate, he would still be running for president — and people would be hiding him, just like they’re hiding her right now.”

The final point appeared to be a reference to Harris not yet having sat for an interview or conducted a full news conference.

A serious point clarified: No Trump-Netanyahu call

Much of what happened at both events Thursday was typical campaign-trail fare.

But during the question-and-answer section of Trump’s event at Bedminster, a more substantive point was clarified.

Earlier this week, a story ricocheted around the world contending that Trump had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone, and that the call had been intended to prod Netanyahu toward a cease-fire deal in Gaza.

Trump flatly stated that no such call had taken place.

He said that he had not spoken with Netanyahu since the Israeli prime minister visited him at Mar-a-Lago last month.