Former President Joe Biden stood in front of a South Carolina crowd on Friday again refers to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
“Are you still talking?” Biden asked with a laugh.
The reference to Trump’s Tuesday night speech, which lasted 1 hour and 47 minutes, could be the mild criticism that Biden leveled at the president.
During his nearly 20-minute speech, Biden accused Trump of “having a weird idea with Barack Obama” and plans to “steal the election” by trying to close roadblocks to midterm voting. Then he said “there is something wrong with this boy.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden spoke in Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday, where party leaders and donors honored his lifetime achievement. Biden honored the southern country that six years ago gave him an important presidential award, which put him in a position to seek the White House in 2020.
Biden became angry when he spoke about the increase in immigration in Minnesota that led to the shooting of two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
“My friends, I can’t sugarcoat this,” Biden said. “These are dark days.”
And he slammed Trump for ignoring those violent events in Minnesota during the Union.
“He did not say Renee Good, Alex Pretti who were killed by Minnesota ICE – in Minnesota by ICE – did not even offer a word of condolence to their families,” said Biden, appearing to mispronounce Pretti’s last name. “He doesn’t give the slightest bit of support, or even acknowledgement, to Epstein’s victims sitting in front of him. The whole time he didn’t acknowledge them.”
Before the 2024 election, Biden chose the state to be the first to vote in the Democratic primary. Now, before 2028, South Carolina is trying to hold on to that spot. Although Biden did not explicitly say that party leaders should stick with South Carolina, he made a case for his power as a political forecaster.
“I knew that if I won the nomination, I would win the presidency, because I knew what Bill Clinton and Barack Obama knew before me: South Carolina elects presidents,” said Biden. “It’s not a joke my people, if your presence is important to me.”
In 2020, Biden limped into the South Carolina primary after stunning losses in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. He finished second in Nevada – away from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt. – before going on to win over South Carolina. His decisive victory in a state with a majority of Black voters proved that he could appeal to a critical mass of Democratic voters, and it set the stage. Some Democrats quickly dropped out of the race and lined up to back Biden.
Biden left the White House last year with a bad name in his party, after seeking a second term amid concerns about his age and questions about whether he had lost his mind. Biden bowed out late in the election, giving former Vice President Kamala Harris just 108 days to make her case to the public.
Now, a year into Trump’s second term, Biden is back to highlight the current president’s low ratings with voters and portray the Republican era as a step back from what he left behind.
Biden touted his victories in office — including his actions to take on Big Pharma, such as capping insulin costs and creating job growth. He accused Trump of pulling back the country’s reputation in the world and praised job growth and a drop in crime during his tenure.
Trump won the 2024 election in part because of voter dissatisfaction with border security. Under Biden, immigration is on the rise, and tens of thousands of immigrants are being bussed into major cities across the country, competing for public services.
Biden also tried and tried to negotiate a bipartisan immigration deal with Congress, but it was rejected. When he enacted more restrictions on immigration, discontent erupted in Biden’s party.
Trump has repeatedly spoken out against Biden’s stance on immigration, accusing him of open borders. Today, it’s Trump’s deportation activities that he no longer likes. In a recent poll by NBC News, 60% of those asked a week after Pretti’s death, in one way or another strongly opposed Trump’s actions on border security and immigration.
On Friday, Biden appeared to address criticism of his handling of the issue.
“Although Covid sent many people around the world to record levels around the world, the day I left office, crossing borders in the United States was less than the day I entered the office that I inherited from Trump,” said Biden. “That’s just the truth.”
