US President Donald Trump delivers a speech marking his one centesimal day in workplace at Macomb County Group School Sports activities Expo Middle in Warren, Michigan, on April 29, 2025. Trump celebrated the primary 100 days of what’s already some of the radical and far-reaching presidencies in US historical past, however polls present People turning into disenchanted with the financial and political tumult. Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON — Six months after defeating Joe Biden, President Donald Trump is again in energy however stays obsessed along with his White Home predecessor, taking each alternative accountable the person who stays his best political bugbear.
The nation’s GDP fell within the first quarter due to the “overhang” from the Democrat’s presidency, Trump insisted Wednesday on his Reality Social community.
Hours later throughout a cupboard assembly, he denied any hyperlink between the financial slowdown and his protectionist commerce insurance policies, although it was primarily on account of a surge in imports in anticipation of the Republican’s sweeping tariffs.
READ: ‘Welcome again’: Trump, Biden shake fingers in White Home
“That is Biden,” he mentioned of the first-quarter downturn, “and you’ll even say the subsequent quarter is kind of Biden.”
In keeping with a current rely by The New York Occasions, the brash billionaire has talked about his predecessor on common six occasions per day since his January 20 inauguration.
Even conservative influencer Dave Portnoy, who was a robust conduit for anti-Biden rhetoric throughout final yr’s presidential marketing campaign, is tiring of the deflections.
“What’s that previous expression? Don’t piss down my again and inform me it’s raining?” Portnoy posted on X in response to Trump claiming “That is Biden’s Inventory Market.”
“The inventory market is a direct reflection of Trumps 1st 100 days in workplace,” added Portnoy, who based digital media firm Barstool Sports activities. “Doesn’t imply it gained’t get higher… however that is his market not Biden’s.”
READ: The whole lot is okay: Trump’s cupboard shrugs off shrinking economic system
And but Trump, whose approval ranking has tumbled in current weeks, blasts Biden relentlessly.
On Wednesday, he blamed the Democrat for “destroying our nation in so some ways,” described the three-year previous battle between Russia and Ukraine as “Biden’s battle,” and even slammed his nemesis for not having cupboard conferences as open as his personal.
“Trump is aware of the economic system and his overseas coverage are in hassle, and he’s in search of a story that excuses himself,” Joseph Grieco, a political science professor at Duke College, informed AFP.
“Biden bashing has labored for him up to now, so it’s not shocking he’d flip to it now,” he mentioned, however added: “This can work for under so lengthy.”
Throughout a Tuesday rally in Michigan to mark his first 100 days in workplace, Trump requested his supporters which of his two Biden smears they most well-liked: “Crooked Joe or Sleepy Joe?”
Trump then supplied a boorish critique of his predecessor, as he typically did on the marketing campaign path.
“He goes to the seaside, proper? And he may go to sleep… drooling out of the aspect of his mouth.”
The Washington Publish counted roughly 30 Biden references within the prolonged speech.
And in a willful rejection of reality, Trump repeated his false declare that the Democrat had stolen his victory in 2020.
‘The opposite man’
To this point, there was little efficient response from the Democratic opposition, and Trump has made certain this time round that he’s surrounded solely by loyal lieutenants who flatter fairly than provoke.
So when the president seeks a political punching bag, he rounds on Biden.
He has attacked Biden on a variety of points, from excessive egg costs to strikes towards Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, from immigration to paper straws.
On social media, legions of Trump-aligned accounts be part of the fray, hurling jibes at Biden.
In March as he promoted Tesla, the corporate run by his ally Elon Musk, the 78-year-old Trump informed reporters on the White Home as he emerged from a pink automobile: “You suppose Biden may get into that automotive? I don’t suppose so.”
When he was president, Biden adopted fairly a distinct technique.
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He typically refused to even utter Trump’s identify, referring to him as “the opposite man.”