“Over the next four years, I want to make sure that all the news is the American people,” he said at a CNN town hall.
But now, Biden is eagerly naming and singling out the onetime “former guy” in prepared remarks and on social media, exalting Donald Trump in a way that Biden and White House aides have not done during his first 18 months in office .
Speaking virtually to a group of black law enforcement officials last week, Biden accused the former president of creating a “medieval hell” for police officers who fended off the Jan. 6 rioters, adding that “Donald Trump didn’t have the courage to act ».
Biden’s Twitter feed echoed those words — a chilling sight for a White House that has sought to eliminate all mention of the former president and, in particular, his name.
And when Biden emerged from isolation after a battle with COVID-19, he notably noted that he would be able to continue working from the White House residence, while Trump had to be airlifted to hospital for treatment after his diagnosis, at a time when there were no vaccines.  available and the then President took a capitulation approach to mitigation measures.
For some Democrats, Biden’s willingness to work directly with Trump was overdue.
“He’s like Lord Voldemort, isn’t he?  You have to say his name and show you’re not afraid of him,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman, DN.Y.  “It’s good to see the president name Donald Trump, as we all should.”
Biden’s increasingly combative stance comes as a stream of revelations pour in about Trump and his behavior during the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and amid growing speculation that the Republican will launch a comeback effort as early as this autumn.
Despite Biden’s low approval ratings, even among members of his own party, he still solidifies the vast majority of Democratic voters behind him when presented as the party’s choice over Trump in a hypothetical 2024 campaign.
The first major attempt by Biden to zero in on Trump came on January 6, 2022, when he delivered a speech on the one-year anniversary of the uprising.  Biden condemned his predecessor for holding a “dagger to the throat of democracy” by spreading repeatedly debunked lies that Trump did not lose in 2020.
But even then, Biden refused to call Trump out by name, prompting questions about why.
“I didn’t want to turn this into a modern-day political battle between me and the president,” Biden explained after his remarks on Capitol Hill.  “It’s much more than that.”
Other Democrats say Biden, who campaigned to unify a divided country, was right to turn the spotlight away from Trump at a time when Democrats had regained control of Washington for the first time in a decade and they were going to launch an ambitious agenda and move on from the chaotic Trump years.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he too found it difficult to focus on the former president once Trump left office.
“I think a lot of us just hoped he would go away and if we stopped talking about him, everyone else would stop talking about him,” he said.  “But it didn’t happen that way.  He’s running for president and he’s still running the Republican Party, and I don’t think we can disengage anymore.”
Last week, Biden left no doubt that he was prepared — perhaps even willing — to directly challenge Trump in a way he hadn’t before.
In pre-recorded remarks at the National Black Law Enforcement Agency’s annual conference, Biden made repeated references to the “defeated” former president who did nothing as police officers worked for hours to secure the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the victory of Biden.
“The police were heroes that day.  Donald Trump did not have the courage to act,” Biden said in his remarks.  “The brave women and men in blue across this nation must never forget that.”
Biden’s Twitter feeds reinforced those words and promoted his repeated references to Trump.  A tweet a day later noted that the “former president” opposes limiting the “military-style weapons” that Biden says should be banned.
On Wednesday, Biden’s release from solitary confinement and his celebratory remarks in the Rose Garden offered him another chance to invoke Trump and their differences on a separate issue.
“When my predecessor got COVID, he had to be airlifted to Walter Reed Medical Center.  He was seriously ill.  Fortunately, he recovered,” Biden said.  “When I contracted COVID, I was working from the top floor of the White House.”  Biden emphasized that the vaccines, home tests and antiviral treatments he enjoyed during his recovery were readily available to the American public.
White House aides believe those two issues — law and order and managing the pandemic — are among the areas where Biden can make the strongest contrast with the previous administration.  Biden himself has made no secret of his hunger to run again against Trump, recently telling an Israeli television station that he “wouldn’t be disappointed” about a possible rematch.
As for the former president, Biden’s tweets and comments have not come up in recent conversations between Trump advisers, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private discussions.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are destroying America, just as President Trump predicted,” said Trump spokesman Taylor Budowitz.  American people.  His interns should stop writing lame Tweets and start writing resignation letters.”
Biden’s new, more confrontational stance is another way the White House has sought to create a clearer contrast with Republicans ahead of the November election, as Democrats are buffeted by the traditional headwinds facing the establishment party and facing voter dissatisfaction with inflation and the general direction.  of the country.
Republicans are skeptical that the strategy will work, even as Trump flirts with formally announcing his 2024 bid before the fall polls.  They also worry that his nomination could distract from the GOP’s effort to make the election a referendum on how Democrats manage Washington.
“I understand.  If I was responsible for 9.1% inflation and a faltering economy and turmoil on the southern border, I’d probably try to change that, too,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican.
Sen. Brian Schatz, R-Hawaii, said Biden’s largely toned-down public persona and cautious leanings were what made him appeal to a wide range of voters.
“But I think it comes to the same conclusion that the majority of the country has come to, which is that the former president attempted a coup,” Sachs said.  “Although President Biden is trying to avoid inflammatory rhetoric, I think he’s discovered there’s no other way to say it.”
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.