Biden

There appears to be little or no precedent in recent history for so many voters of a president's base wanting to nominate someone else.

A Pew Research Center poll the month before showed 66 percent of Democrats said they wanted someone to run against Clinton in the primary. Dating back further, most such questions matched the incumbent president up against would-be primary challengers — rather than an undefined “someone else.” About the closest analog to where Biden is right now is a June 1979 CBS News/New York Times poll that showed Democrats favored Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) over President Jimmy Carter 52-23. A CBS News poll in January 1995 showed 37 percent of Democrats preferred “someone else,” but 56 percent still wanted to renominate Clinton. But that’s still nowhere near Biden’s numbers. (Only one big name has left open the possibility of challenging him, according to a recent story by CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Of course, that could always change.) Even when Biden was very popular among Democrats (85 percent approval) and not quite as unpopular overall late last year, a poll still showed a plurality of Democratic-leaning voters preferred someone else as their 2024 nominee. And leading that list is a startling finding: Democratic voters say by more than 2 to 1 that they would prefer someone else as their nominee in 2024.

This week Reuters reported the Biden administration is discussing the possible lifting of its ban on U.S. sales of so-called offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, ...

Biden put the ban in place early last year citing the Saudi-led coalition’s disastrous war on Yemen, which has killed more than 100,000 people since 2015. As Biden Prepares to Meet MBS, U.S. Considers Lifting Ban on “Offensive” Weapons to Saudi Arabia President Biden departs for Jerusalem this evening, the first stop on his four-day trip to the Middle East. After meeting with Israeli leaders, Biden is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, before heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. As a presidential candidate, Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over its human rights violations and the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. This week Reuters reported the Biden administration is discussing the possible lifting of its ban on U.S. sales of so-called offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, including Lockheed Martin F-35 jets.

Biden will announce some new initiatives in Israel and Saudi Arabia this week. But the biggest deliverable is what he gives them: His presence.

When Kirby, the NSC spokesperson, told reporters that what happens in the Middle East “affects us here at home,” he was clearly referring to the American people. A decision was then made to separate the trips, sending Biden into the triple-digit heat of the Middle East in mid-July. But Biden will be pictured sitting mere feet away from MBS during his meeting with King Salman. Some administration officials fear the crown prince, the de facto ruler of his country, will seek a public handshake to show his pariah status has officially ended. It’s still unclear what he will do or say about the killing of prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. On July 4, the State Department announced that she was likely killed by Israeli Defense Forces during a May raid, though damage to the lethal bullet made a definitive determination impossible. Still, if those ties improve after the Middle East visit, then Biden’s America-is-back tour will have made it harder for Russia and China to gain a regional foothold, U.S. officials argue. Riyadh prefers to boost or lower gas exports in tandem with members of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries and its affiliates, including Russia. If the consortium doesn’t agree to dramatically fill the energy gap left by Moscow, then gas prices in the U.S. (and around the world) may not drop enough to line Americans’ pocketbooks and lift Democrats’ chances in November’s midterm elections. “I’ll travel to the Middle East to start a new and more promising chapter of America’s engagement there,” he wrote. “It’s unclear what the relationship is going to be, from the Saudi perspective, in the future,” said Jonathan Panikoff, the former deputy U.S. national intelligence officer for the Near East who’s now at the Atlantic Council think tank. “We’ve been working very, very hard across the whole range of relationships, and whether it’s diplomatic, whether it’s economic, certainly in a security [and] military perspective, to try to bring about some changes there,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last week. Biden, for a time, angrily rejected meeting with the crown prince, arguing that the presidency “should stand for something,” according to two people with knowledge of his thinking. But White House aides have since confirmed that Biden would meet with the Saudi king and his coterie — which just so happens to include the infamous prince. But over the past few months, the posture has changed, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

Joe Biden's trip to Israel this week, his first as U.S. president, might look on paper like a quick stopover: just two days meeting with Israeli leaders and ...

It’s a scene that has played out for years, as Israel’s government has failed to follow through on its stated plan to expand the area for egalitarian prayer at the site, one of the holiest in Judaism. A source familiar with details of the trip predicted that Saudi Arabia will announce permission for Israeli flights to fly over Saudi airspace. It could be the first visit to the area by a sitting U.S. president; Biden is likely to announce renewed funding for the hospital. Saudi Arabia has long conditioned diplomacy with Israel on the creation of a Palestinian state. Discussions about forming a military alliance of Arab states to counter Iran, which foments instability throughout the Middle East (and regularly calls for the violent destruction of Israel) seems more likely. Netanyahu threatened to annex parts of the West Bank in 2020, a move that spooked Donald Trump’s administration and further infuriated Palestinian leadership, who were already not on speaking terms with Israeli leaders. In a significant gesture, he will visit a hospital on Friday in largely Palestinian East Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of a future state. But worries about counter-missile supply could soon be a thing of the past, as Israel will introduce Biden to its still-developing “Iron Beam” system, which in testing has shown that it will likely be able to down missiles with laser beams. In addition to the formal meetings, a key expected part of Biden’s visit with Israeli officials is his scheduled tour of an Israeli air force base. But it was the first time that a call between Abbas and an Israeli prime minister had been confirmed in years. But Biden will also meet with Netanyahu on Thursday, in part to avoid looking biased before the upcoming Israeli election. Biden will also spend time with the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, at what is putting it lightly a low point in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

President Joe Biden is meeting with Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The White House says their discussions Tuesday will showcase the ...

López Obrador has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration, including decrying U.S. efforts to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the U.K. for prosecution. … We have always been speaking for the benefit of our peoples and both of our nations. Mexico’s president also has been more vocal about attempting to tamp down inflation than curb climate change or promote energy efficiency. Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been tasked with exploring the root causes of immigration across Latin America, hosted López Obrador for a breakfast that featured mutual kind words. López Obrador declined Biden’s invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles last month after unsuccessfully urging the U.S. to include the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — all countries with anti-democratic regimes. In a preview call with reporters, administration officials declined to specify which visa programs might be expanded to bolster legal migration or by how much. Honest. She is a partisan of equality. “She is our friend,” López Obrador said. Today we are going to do exactly the same thing.” So I congratulate the American people because they have a first order vice president. First lady Jill Biden hosted Mexican first lady Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller during this spring’s White House celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The Mexican leader also has called U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia “a crass error” and criticized the U.S. for moving more swiftly to provide military funding to Ukraine than financial aid to Central America.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will try to reaffirm and recalibrate U.S. relationships in the Middle East during his first trip to the region s...

“The president is saying ahead of his trip, ‘We are going to continue to hedge on you.’ If I was MBS looking at that, I would say, ‘Well, then I’m going to hedge against you as well.’” Yair Lapid, Israel’s caretaker prime minister, leads a centrist political party that is more aligned with Biden than the country’s recent conservative leaders. Critics say that some of Biden’s rhetoric around the Saudi leg of the trip, particularly playing down his expected meeting with the crown prince, could complicate efforts to reset relations. The threat from Iran, which would only increase if it built a nuclear weapon, has spurred greater cooperation between Arab nations and Israel, something that would have been unthinkable decades ago. Although no one expects the two countries to immediately normalize relations, there could be incremental steps taken, such as by allowing Israeli flights to cross through Saudi airspace. Another significant stumbling block has been the lack of a new nuclear agreement with Iran. The last round of negotiations in Doha, Qatar ended without success. Biden has been sharply critical of Saudi Arabia, even saying during the presidential campaign that it should be treated like a “pariah” for human rights abuses. Sullivan said the president will make a “major statement” on his vision for the Middle East region. And that’s not in anybody’s interest.” However, the shifting politics of energy have led Biden to change course, especially as American drivers face high costs at the gas pump. Looming over Biden’s travels will be his administration’s struggle to rejuvenate the Iran nuclear deal that was reached by Barack Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018. The trip only becomes more fraught from there.

Mexico's leader snubs Biden. Is the U.S. losing sway in Latin America? CNN —. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel ...

Both countries have viewed labor pathways as a way to stem the flow of irregular migration. How do we increase prosecutions?" Other areas of discussion are expected to be disrupting networks and detecting the "whole chain from start to finish of the different actors that are involved in the criminal movement of people." He said his administration has been working on creating work opportunities for migrants, including through granting more work visas. "Arrests are great, but we need prosecutions. "This is a relationship that directly impacts the daily lives of our people and despite the overhyped headlines that we sometimes see, you and I have a strong and productive relationship and I would argue a partnership," Biden said.

Unpopular presidents have lost re-election bids — Donald Trump, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford. The last two times an unpopular president who was ...

First lady Jill Biden's office issued an apology Tuesday morning after Biden faced criticism for citing "bodegas" and "breakfast tacos" to praise Latino ...

His team worked with all of you -- Unidos and so many of the affiliates here today -- to get Latinos vaccinated, fight hunger, and invest in your small businesses." In her speech, Biden also discussed the bipartisan gun legislation signed by the President and the tragedy "He's appointed Latinos to the highest offices in his cabinet.

The former government officials filed an injunction to block their removal from the Naval Academy Board of Visitors last year.

The Board of Visitors to the U.S. Naval Academy was created by Congress to advise the President on the “state of morale and discipline” at the academy as well as its “curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, [and] academic methods.” U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich also noted that Congress specified that the “six persons designated by the President” would serve on the Board “for three years each” in staggered terms. Spicer, a Navy reservist, was appointed by Trump in 2019 to the Naval Academy Board of Visitors. Vought’s appointment to that same board came in December, 2020, part of a string of controversial, lame-duck appointments that installed Trump allies like Hope Hicks, Ric Grenell and Kellyanne Conway in board or council positions overseeing Fulbright scholarships, the United States Holocaust Memorial and the U.S. Air Force Academy, respectively. Spicer and Vought were among 11 appointees by President Donald Trump to various military service academy advisory boards that President Joe Biden asked to resign last September — threatening them with removal from their posts if they refused to resign.

In his visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, President Biden will aim to keep the oil flowing and lock in progress on the Middle East's simmering ...

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President Biden met with Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador a month after the Mexican president boycotted a regional summit. Biden's public remarks were ...

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White House says BA.5 is responsible for majority of new infections in the US amid reports of plan for second booster shots for adults.

“It has the potential to cause the numbers of infections to rise in the coming weeks,” the White House said. The science is clear that Covid-19 vaccines remain our single-most important tool to protect people and prevent serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths, and staying up to date on booster shots ensures that people have the highest level of protection possible.” Vaccination rates vary widely by state, with states in the south languishing at about 50% of residents fully vaccinated. BA.4 and BA.5 currently make up 80% of cases in the US, according to the White House, which said BA.5 “may have some increased ability to escape immunity, including from prior infections”. The subvariant, the government said, “has the potential to cause the numbers of infections to rise in the coming weeks”. The US is averaging about 100,000 new coronavirus cases daily, and hospitalizations have been on the rise since April – although they remain below previous peaks. The new plan, which is yet to be approved by regulators, “has the backing” of the White House Covid-19 coordinator, Ashish Jha, and the government’s top infectious-disease expert, Anthony Fauci, according to the Post.

Joe Biden shakes Gavin Newsom's hand. A shoe-in to win reelection as governor in November, Gavin Newsom will be term- ...

But that advantage could dissolve in a moment if a C-list candidate open a wound on her in the primaries the way McCarthy did to Johnson. Harris’ obvious vulnerabilities —she embodies ambitious coastal liberalism and was a flat candidate in 2020, dropping out two months before the first primary — give her fellow Democrats ample incentive to oppose her. Harris has had two years to establish herself as a viable presidential candidate, and to her credit she currently leads the Biden-less field in polls. But there’s no political rule that vaults the veep to the nomination, and especially not the presidency, after his or her president exits. The only shame in NRWRR is to deny it too sincerely. — and ambitious enough to break Harold Stassen’s record for the most times anybody has run for president. A NRWRR candidate must also pretend the veep is the rightful heir if he belongs to her party. He’s also put himself in the NRWRR front ranks by leading the party on its signature issues, trumpeting his state’s new gun regulation and abortion rights legislation, and going out of his way to rip the Supreme Court’s abortion decision. He’s not the only one to ride that strategy to the White House. Nixon was NRWRR between 1960 and 1968; Ronald Reagan’s pre-presidential political career was one NRWRR act after another. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, such as when longshot Sen. Eugene McCarthy weakened President Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 New Hampshire primary, thereby encouraging Sen. Robert Kennedy to join him in the race and drive Johnson out. The key to not running while really running (NRWRR) requires these aspirants to do most of the things a declared candidate does — raise campaign funds; tickle the media eye; stump for other candidates and put them in your political debt; prospect potential campaign staffers; and travel and give speeches. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently raised his national profile by buying ad time on Florida TV to criticize the state’s restrictive abortion laws and then sent out fundraising letters pegged to the stunt, stands as our leading NRWRR presidential candidate.

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will seek to salvage relations with Saudi Arabia and boost Israel's beleaguered government in a Mideast trip that risks ...

“There’s a little bit of political danger here for the administration,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative. “I think the default public view seems to be that the trip is about addressing current oil and gas prices. They pointed to Biden’s travel directly between the countries as evidence of the evolving dynamics. The effort is further complicated by Biden’s political need not to appear too deferential to the crown prince, whose brutality he has repeatedly denounced. Moreover, some Saudis are concerned that tapping their limited spare capacity could actually backfire, spooking investors, having little impact on prices and encouraging the US to demand more of what they see as erratic swings in energy policy. It’s possible that the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates could announce increased production to compensate for the under-performance of countries like Nigeria and Angola under the current OPEC+ agreement extending through November, according to Helima Croft, Head of Global Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital markets. White House officials have insisted that the trip’s scope is far broader than a simple mission to boost oil output.

Today, the White House COVID-19 Team is announcing its strategy to manage BA.5. The strategy relies on ensuring that Americans continue to have easy and.

Empowering people with the latest information on COVID-19 and where to access vaccines, treatments, tests, and masks at COVID.Gov: The Administration will continue to communicate clearly with the American people about COVID-19 and the steps that they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones. Making free high-quality masks widely available and communicate clear recommendations about when people should consider masking: Experts agree that masking in indoor, public spaces is an important tool to control the spread of COVID-19. The CDC’s COVID-19 Community Levels provide individuals with clear recommendations on when to consider masking in indoor, public spaces. The Administration has initiated a communications campaign to ensure that immunocompromised individuals and their close contacts are up to date with COVID-19 vaccination and boosters. Making it easy to access COVID-19 treatments and boost provider and patient awareness: The Administration will continue working across the federal government, with state and local leaders, health care providers, as well as the public and private sectors, to take additional actions to boost access and awareness of lifesaving treatments, particularly in areas where BA.5 is spreading. Prioritizing protections for immunocompromised individuals: As BA.5 cases rise, the Administration will continue to provide support to individuals who are immunocompromised so that they have the support they need to live their lives safely. To ensure equitable access for visually-impaired individuals, the Administration has also made available more accessible at-home tests to households with visually-impaired individuals. Based on the latest CDC data, adults who are up to date with their vaccinations are 3.5 times less likely to be hospitalized than unvaccinated adults; among those who are 50 and older, people who have received two booster shots are 42 times less likely to die from COVID-19 compared to those who are unvaccinated. To help ensure that Americans have tests on hand if a need arises, the Administration opened COVIDtests.gov for a third round of ordering ahead of the summer, meaning that 16 free tests have been made available to each household since the launch of the program. The science is clear that COVID-19 vaccines remain our single-most important tool to protect people and prevent serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, and staying up to date on booster shots ensures that people have the highest level of protection possible. The President’s comprehensive COVID-19 response has produced tremendous results for the American people: COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive force it once was, and most COVID-19 deaths are now preventable because of the vaccines, treatments, and other tools the Biden Administration has made available to the American people. Given the rise of BA.5, it is essential that Americans stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations. In March, the President released his National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan – a roadmap to continue our fight against the virus and to continue minimizing its impact on our lives.

The White House meeting between President Biden and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was intended to help shore up a critical relationship.

The tension between the leaders has existed since Mr. Biden was elected, when Mr. López Obrador initially refused to recognize his victory. “There shouldn’t be selfishness between countries, peoples that are neighbors and friends,” Mr. López Obrador said toward the end of his remarks. Mr. Biden has returned to a broader approach, one where the United States pursues national interests while also emphasizing the need to counter corruption and ensure the protection of human rights. He is, however, just as reliant on Mexico to deter migration, giving Mr. López Obrador significant leverage. Mr. Biden added that both the United States and Mexico would invest in updated infrastructure along the border. During the summit last month, Mexico committed to providing temporary work for at least 15,000 Guatemalans, while the United States said it would dedicate $65 million in grants to agricultural employers that hire farmers from Central American nations. Despite not attending Mr. Biden’s summit in June, Mexico did support a declaration completed during the gathering that committed to cooperating on expanding legal pathways for foreign workers, investing in border protection, tackling smuggling networks and addressing record-high illegal migration. The notability of Mr. López Obrador’s mere presence alongside Mr. Biden underscored how awkward an already complex relationship between the United States and Mexico has become. The administration began an anti-smuggling initiative with other nations that has resulted in roughly 3,000 arrests since April, he said. The Mexican president also noted that Americans have been crossing the border to buy gas, saying it is a dollar cheaper. Mr. López Obrador also touched on one of Mr. Biden’s greatest political vulnerabilities: high gas prices. But Mr. López Obrador made clear there was still tension between the men.

As Joe Biden visits Israel and Palestine, Al Jazeera examines how his policies compare to Donald Trump's approach.

“We’ve worked with Israel, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan to maintain the peace without permitting terrorists to rearm. And the principal protector in that regard is the United States.” And that’s why Israel leaders have come out so strongly for my going to Saudi,” Biden said late last month. “Whether it’s the Biden administration or specific members of Congress, they’re creating an Israel exception. As a candidate, Biden pledged to oppose annexation and settlement expansion. The 2018 move gave a practical US endorsement for Israel’s claims to the entire holy city as its capital. For Biden, returning the embassy to Jerusalem was never a serious consideration. Last month, the US administration announced that the Palestinian affairs unit within the US embassy in Jerusalem would start reporting directly to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the US Department of State “on substantive matters”. While Trump had all but shunned Palestinians in his policies for the region, the Biden administration has been trying to re-establish US relations with the Palestinian leadership. “Part of the purpose [for] the trip to the Middle East is to deepen Israel’s integration in the region, which I think we’re going to be able to do, and which is good for peace and good for Israeli security. “As President, Biden will take immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, consistent with US law, including assistance to refugees, work to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem, and work to reopen the PLO mission in Washington,” Biden’s campaign said in a platform for Arab American voters in 2020. For example, the US Department of State’s annual country report on human rights includes East Jerusalem under the section on Israel. But it adds a caveat: “Language in this report is not meant to convey a position on any final status issues to be negotiated between the parties to the conflict, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem or the borders between Israel and any future Palestinian state.”

In 2020, Joe Biden appealed to voters by being many things that Donald Trump was not: a relatable everyman with blue-collar roots; an empathetic avuncular ...

If Biden finally comes to see the Republican agenda as the existential threat to American democracy that it is, there is yet hope that he will put up more of a fight to defend the political system to which he has devoted most of his life. For many, these legal and rhetorical moves are much too little and far too late, but they do indicate that Biden may be amenable to stepping up his fight. In contrast to Donald Trump – who never before held an elected political office and who has consistently acted with little regard to the limits of political office or the sanctity of elections – Biden has been in Washington for nearly 50 years and naturally believes in the system to which he’s dedicated his life. If the current GOP finds itself in a position where it could enact a major piece of its agenda by expanding the Supreme Court or creating a new filibuster exception, I have little doubt that a large core within the GOP would take these moves without hesitation and a larger contingent of Republican policymakers would remain afraid to challenge their radically conservative colleagues. Even if Democrats preserve the filibuster, maintain the current size of the Supreme Court or show restraint in their use of executive power, there’s little reason to expect that Republicans will follow suit. And perhaps even more importantly, Biden sees using these tactics would undermine the legitimacy of these institutions, which will cause long-term damage that he fears would be more devastating than the specific rights reversals that are being enacted by the GOP. While Biden has lived up to his reputation for empathy and his record of competence, Democrats in Washington and voters across the country are growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of fight. Democrats are feeling disappointed, if not deceived, that they have only gotten part of the Biden they were promised: the builder but not the brawler. What good are institutions if the rights they’re meant to uphold have been systematically eroded to the point of oblivion? Instead, the presidential election ended up being closer than expected – though still decisive, despite Trump’s dangerous fantasies to the contrary – and control of the Senate manifested as a razor-thin majority. And while the prospect of the two septuagenarians battling was rather ridiculous, Biden’s rhetoric symbolised the type of “tough guy” politics that many Democrats longed for as a counterweight to Trump. He stacked the courts, funnelled billions of dollars towards a racially motivated border wall, banned Muslims from travelling to the US, and frequently violated governmental norms and actual laws to personally profit from his role as president.

Jill Biden was quick to issue an apology for the diversity comparison through her press secretary after the much-derided remarks.

While speaking, she mispronounced the word “bodegas” as “bogedas.” A Quinnipiac opinion poll from May found that only about 26 per cent of Hispanic Americans approve of President Joe Biden‘s performance as a democratic leader in 2022. “Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community — as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio — is your strength,” Biden said.