President Joe Biden went after ‘Trump clone’ Larry Elder, the leading Republican who could take the place of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, if things go badly for the party in Tuesday’s recall race.
‘You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,’ Biden warned at a rally on the campus of Long Beach City College Monday night.
On Tuesday, voters in California will decide whether to keep Newsom, or replace him with someone else, with polls showing Elder, a prominent conservative radio show host, as the most likely alternative.
Biden, who spent time with Newsom surveying fire damage in the Sacramento area before flying to Long Beach, recalled to the crowd how he got to run against the ‘real Donald Trump’ last year.
‘This year, this year, the leading Republican,’ Biden said. ‘Is the closest thing to a Trump clone that I’ve ever seen in your state.’
‘Can you imagine him being governor of this state?’ the president asked. ‘You can’t let that happen. There’s too much at stake.’
President Joe Biden appeared at a campaign rally in Long Beach Monday night for California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing a recall election Tuesday
President Joe Biden (left) greets California Gov. Gavin Newsom (right) onstage at Long Beach City College Monday night
The most likely Republican to take Gov. Gavin Newsom’s place is conservative radio show host Larry Elder, captured campainging in Monterey Park, California on Monday
Both Biden and Newsom, who introduced the president at the rally site, warned that Elder could bring an anti-science agenda to the state, as the country still reels from the Delta surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘For these Republican governors, it’s not about public health, it’s about politics,’ Biden complained.
He added that some of the most anti-vaxx Republican governors in the country also come from states where vaccine mandates for children going into schools – for diseases like measles and mumps – are some of the most strict.
‘Just look at the hypocrisy,’ Biden uttered.
Beyond the pandemic, Biden warned what could happen to abortion rights, pointing to the controversial Texas law that bars abortions after six weeks.
‘Women are to be respected and their rights protected,’ Biden urged.
Both Biden and Newsom also pointed to comments Elder made in 2000 when he wrote in a column, ‘women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events.’
‘We have someone on the other side of this ballot who thinks women aren’t as smart as men,’ Newsom said to boos from the crowd.
The doting Democrats both brought up their wives, first lady Jill Biden and California’s first lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom – who was one of the openers Monday night – when hitting back at Elder’s dig.
‘Tell my wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom that!’ Newsom said. ‘Thinks that there is no glass ceiling, doesn’t believe in pay equity laws. Thinks women complain too much about sexism. Think minorities complain to much about racism,’ Newsom continued as more boos came from the crowd.
Biden then turned to climate change after spending the afternoon surveying the charred California landscape.
‘You would be protecting California from another Trump climate denier,’ Biden said. ‘The last place you want somewhere like that is the governor’s office in California.’
President Joe Biden urged Californians to vote ‘no’ in Tuesday’s recall race or else ‘you get Donald Trump’
President Joe Biden compared the top Republican in the recall race, conservative radio show host Larry Elder, to former President Donald Trump
President Joe Biden (left) is joined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right) onstage at the conclusion of the Long Beach rally
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen riding in the Beast alongside President Joe Biden to Monday’s Long Beach rally. They were heckled by protesters gathered outside
President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up to the crowd gathered at Long Beach City College Monday night
Democrats want Californians to vote ‘No’ in Tuesday’s recall election, which would keep Gov. Gavin Newsom in his job
Both Biden and Newsom also mocked Elder for saying that the minimum wage shouldn’t exist.
‘I can’t believe this guy. There shouldn’t be a minimum wage?’ a bemused Biden said from the rally stage.
The 78-year-old Biden coughed through the delivery of his remarks, apologizing at one point for needing to take a sip of water.
A number of pro-Trump and anti-vaccine protesters were kept outside the rally’s perimeter and heckled Biden’s motorcade as it drove in.
As Biden spoke demonstrators could be heard in the distance shouting ‘recall Newsom.’
Newsom’s campaign put on a show of confidence to reporters on election eve.
‘There’s no scenario where we lose tomorrow,’ Newsom campaign adviser Sean Clegg told reporters.
Recent polling shows Newsom breaking away from the threat of being replaced by a Republican.
FiveThirtyEight.com’s compilation of polls showed on Monday that 57.5 per cent of California voters wanted Newsom to stay in office, while 40.8 per cent planned to vote for his removal.
A month ago, polls were essentially tied among Californians who planned to vote ‘no’ on the recall, which would allow the Democrat to remain, and those who planned to vote ‘yes,’ to oust him.
The second question on the recall ballot asks Californians to choose a Newsom replacement.
Elder has remained the top choice, despite saying that he believed white slave owners could be owed reparations for slavery – a remark that got national attention.
‘Speaking of stuff in the you-can’t-make-it-up-file, did you see the video that just came up?’ Newsom asked, pointing to Elder’s reparations comments.
‘This is 2021 and a candidate for California governor said that!’ Newsom exclaimed.
‘Does it surprise any of you that we have someone on the other side of this that is to the right of Donald Trump? To the right of Donald Trump,’ Newsom repeated.
HERE TO HELP: President Joe Biden (right) was greeted by California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) who faces a recall election Tuesday
President Joe Biden made formal remarks about climate change after taking an aerial tour of wildfire demage in California alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom
Meanwhile, former President Trump was setting the table earlier Monday to contest the election result pointing to California’s use of mail-in ballots.
‘Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn’t rigged? Millions and millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam, no different, but less blatant, than the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!’ Trump wrote in a statement Monday.
California is the largest blue state in the nation.
In 2020, Biden won the state over Trump by 29.2 points and by more than 5 million votes.
However, the state has recalled a Democratic governor once in the past and replaced him with a Republican.
In 2003, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
That’s why national Democrats have flooded the state in the final weeks.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, have already made the trek out west to stump for Newsom, encouraging Democrats not to allow a ‘Trump Republican’ into California’s governor’s mansion.
Harris’ appearance in California was delayed due to the terror attack outside of Kabul’s airport in August, which killed 13 American servicemembers. She traveled to the Bay Area and appeared with Newsom on Wednesday.
Biden linked up with Newsom earlier in the day with a friendly greeting on the tarmac in Sacramento.
Newsom then guided Biden on a tour of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services before an aerial tour of fire damage in the area.
‘I was joking with the president,’ Newsom said. ‘This has been my office basically the last 18 months wiht COVID and wildfires.’
Biden spoke about the urgent action needed to combat climate change.
‘We have to act more rapidly and more firmly and more broadly than today,’ the president said. ‘We can’t afford to let anything slip further. It really is a matter of what the world will look like.’
Biden talked about the New Yorkers who died in their Queens basement apartments as the city flooded from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. ‘People dying in basements,’ Biden said. ‘Folks, there’s so much we can do.’
‘And some of my more conservative … some of my less believing friends in this notion of global warming are all of the sudden having an altar call,’ Biden said.
‘They’re seeing the Lord,’ he added.
Biden and Newsom took Marine One to survey damage created by the Caldor fire.
‘We are dealing with extremes the likes of which we’ve never dealt with in our state’s history,’ Newsom said in his introduction of the president. ‘The hots are getting a lot hotter, the drys are getting dryer and as you saw on the East Coast of the United States where people were literally drowning in their cars, the wets are getting a lot wetter.’
President Joe Biden attends a briefing at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho Monday during the first stop on his two-day west coast swing – his first as president
President Joe Biden (right) sits alongside Idaho Gov. Brad Little (left), a Republican, at the National Interagency Fire Center
The president repeated many of the same concerns about climate change he had made throughout the day – while asserting he believed he’d get Congress to pass both the bipartisan infrastrucure package and the $3.5 trillion spending bill, the latter of which contains a number of climate change provisions but has a price tag that is being balked at by Democratic moderates.
‘We have the bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s been passed. It’s bipartisan. And I believe we’ll get done the so-called reconciliation bill that has another several trillion dollars in it,’ Biden said.
On the $3.5 trillion dollar amount, Biden pointed out that’s the amount of spending over 10 years and represents just 1.5 per cent of the predicted, future $366 trillion GDP. He also said 90 per cent of the bill is paid for – as it hikes taxes on the uber rich.
‘Folks, we have to think big, thinking small is a prescription for disaster. we’re going to get this done. This nation is going to come together. And we are going to beat this climate change,’ Biden said.
Earlier, Biden met with federal and state fire officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho including the state’s Republican Gov. Brad Little.
‘I’m here to hear what’s on your mind and what more I should be doing, my administration should be doing to try to help,’ Biden said at the National Interagency Fire Center.
Biden’s visit marked the first time a president had come to the Idaho facility.
‘You know the time of the year when the air fills with smoke and the sky turns a little orange, but that time of year is getting earlier, every year,’ Biden said, linking the elongated fire season to climate change.
President Joe Biden (right) arrives in Boise, Idaho and greets Mayor Lauren McLean (left)
Kevin Reed (left), 52, of Boise, Idaho and Michael Christopher (right), 59, of Eagle, Idaho, join protesters outside the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise as they gather for President Joe Biden’s visit on Monday
A protester holds up a ‘BIDEN SUCKS’ surgical mask at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise Monday, as the president traveled to the deep red state to talk about wildfires
The ‘BIDEN SUCKS’ surgical mask is tossed into a fire outside the Idaho Statehouse in Boise on Monday
In both Idaho and California, wildwires have become a year-round problem.
‘We can’t continue to try to ignore reality,’ Biden said. ‘And the reality is, we have a global warming problem.’
There are a number of climate change provisions in Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget bill that is still being debated on Capitol Hill.
The spending package can be passed through the process of Senate reconciliation, allowing it to pass with only Democrats, but centrist Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have yet to commit their votes.
Biden will make a stop in Colorado on his way back to Washington Tuesday.
After a rocky few weeks for the first-term president amid the U.S.’s disastrous from Afghanistan, Biden was trying to showcase that the federal government can work.
His visit to Idaho, a red state, attracted pro-Trump and anti-vaccine mandate protesters outside the National Interagency Fire Center and outside the state capitol.
He talked about how he used the Defense Production Act last month to boost firehose production, to better prepare the country’s firefighers to fight wildfires.