In Tampa, Jill Biden says Joe Biden’s ‘all in’ to continue his candidacy, so she is too

First Lady Jill Biden speaking in Tampa on July 8, 2024. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)Quality Journalism for Critical Times

Appearing in Tampa as her husband battles to remain the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, First Lady Jill Biden gave a short but rousing speech on Monday afternoon, declaring that “Joe has made it clear he’s all in” and leading to chants of “four more years” from a crowd at the American Legion Post #111.

Her comment came several hours after President Joe Biden made it clear to the growing number of Democratic members of Congress calling for him to withdraw from the contest following his disastrous debate that he has no intention of dropping out.

“That’s the decision that he’s made,” she added. “And just as always, as he has supported my career, I’m all in, too.”

Jill Biden’s strong advocacy for her husband has disappointed some Democrats, who had hoped that she might be the voice the president would respond to after the Atlanta debate ignited serious conversations about his viability as a candidate to challenge Donald Trump effectively over the next four months. But the Bidens as a family have seemingly shut down any such talk.

Her comments about the Biden’s being “all in” were the only mention she made regarding the imbroglio dominating national politics. She concentrated the rest of her relatively short speech (which clocked in at less than 10 minutes) on her husband’s record on the military as president and compared it to Trump’s.

“With four more years, Joe will continue to fight for you, the military community that he, that we, are humble and proud to call our own,” she said, referring to the fact that her own father was a Navy signalman who served in World War II and that the Bidens’ son, Beau, served with the Army National Guard in Iraq for a year.

“We know what it’s like to wait on the other end of that lighting phone call from across the world. To smile through another holiday with an empty chair at the table. Let me ask you this: Does Donald Trump know what any of that is about?” she asked the crowd, who responded with a resounding, “No!”

Ms. Biden said that Trump “disparaged” those who have served in the military, noting that “his own chief-of-staff” reported that he had called POWs and those who died in war “losers” and “suckers.”

The remarks were reported in a 2020 story by The Atlantic. The former president has consistently denied saying it, although John Kelly, his former chief-of-staff, confirmed that he had.

Dictator on Day One

Ms. Biden said that, as president, Trump had “dismissed the military community and diminished America’s leadership around the world. And it could be worse this time. He says he wants to be a dictator on Day One. He called the Jan. 6 insurrectionists ‘great patriots.’  And last week the Supreme Court ruled that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. Our democracy cannot withstand a Trump presidency with virtually no limits.”

The first lady was in town ostensibly to announce the formation of “Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris,” a national organizing program that aims to mobilize veterans to back the Democratic presidential ticket this November. Her Tampa appearance was one of three on Monday in the South; she appeared earlier in the day in Wilmington, North Carolina, and was scheduled to conclude her tour in Columbus, Georgia, Monday night.

The Republican Party of Florida blasted Jill Biden’s visit, labeling her the “Enabler-in Chief.”

“The Enabler-in-Chief is in Florida today trying to convince service members and veterans that her husband has delivered for them. They won’t be fooled. Joe Biden’s actions speak louder than words,” the RPOF posted on X.

Republican Party of Florida chair Evan Power elaborated in a press release issued on Monday night.

“Jill Biden is desperately trying to change the narrative that Joe Biden should drop out of the race but the fact is that their lies have caught up with them,” Power said.

Ms. Biden in her speech went on to extoll some of the policies that President Biden has enacted in his three-and-a-half years in office, including lowering the cost of child care and mental health services for veterans and signing  the PACT Act, expanding toxic-exposure benefits.

She also said that he had “ended the war in Afghanistan because the sacrifice asked of our military families was too steep for too long.”

Biden did pull troops out of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, almost exactly 20 years after the U.S. invaded that country following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It will always be considered controversial because of the way it ended, with 13 American military members killed outside an airport in Kabul.

A majority of Americans — 54% — supported the withdrawal, according to a Pew Research Poll, but the feeling was divided sharply along party lines. Pew reported that about 70% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the decision to withdraw troops was the right one, while 64% of Republicans said it was wrong.

RPOF Chair Evan Power referenced the withdrawal in his statement.

“You won’t find President Trump abandoning our troops in a foreign country like Biden did in Afghanistan and later lie about it,” he said, referencing how Biden had falsely stated in the debate that “I’m the only president this century, this decade, that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world like [Trump]  did.”

Energized crowd

The crowd seemed more boisterous and energetic than when Joe Biden last appeared in Tampa in late April amid the possibility the president could leave the race.

State Rep. Michele K. Rayner.Credit: FL House of Representatives

Tampa Bay area Democratic state Rep. Michele Rayner told the Phoenix that reporters are asking the wrong question regarding  whether Joe Biden has the wherewithal to defeat Donald Trump in November.

“For those asking Joe Biden to step down, there’s only one 34-time convicted felon that has been civilly judged as a sexual abuser who likes to grab women by the you-know-what. I don’t think we should be talking about Joe Biden,” she said. 

When asked whether she worried about the party being divided about his candidacy, Rayner, an attorney as well as a lawmaker, said that was okay — at least for now.

“I think what you’re seeing is what a healthy democracy looks like, right? ” she said. “We’re not behind one leader that’s a dictator. We’re having people who are actually talking about democracy and what things should look like. But I think that ultimately Joe Biden is our president and he is our candidate, and we’re’ going to stick beside him, a lot of people are going to stick beside him. He had a bad debate. I’ve been bad in court — not often — but I’ve been bad in court. That doesn’t mean that you ask him to step down.”

Jay Alexander, vice president of the Pinellas Democratic Veterans Caucus, said it’s up to Biden whether he has the vigor and stamina to be the party’s nominee, but that he wouldn’t worry if Biden steps down because of some of the potential Democratic candidates waiting in the wings.

“If he decides to go, we have a strong party. Lot of good Democrats out there,” specifically mentioning Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and California’s Gavin Newsom.

“It’s up to Joe, ” Alexander said. “But it has to happen within a week or so.”

Angela Birdsong, president of the Hillsborough County Democratic Black Caucus, said no one she knew was deserting the president. “The majority of Black voters are still in for Joe Biden,” she said as she left the facility. “No hesitation at all.”

This story was updated with quotes from Florida Republican Party Chairman Evan Power.

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