President Joe Biden was welcomed with cheers as he introduced 2024 Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris at a Labor Day campaign rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local #5 training facility in Pittsburgh.
Their first appearance on the campaign trail together since Biden announced his withdrawal in July, the president focused his speech on his special bond with Harris, hailing his decision as nominee in 2020 to select her as his vice president as “the single best decision I made as president of the United States of America.”
He also spoke of the pitfalls of another Trump presidency, notably to labor unions. “Remember, Trump, for four years, promised every month, infrastructure week, for four years he promised that,” Biden said, Harris standing behind. “He didn’t build a damn thing. Nothing. I mean it, not nothing.”
“Folks, we made a lot of progress and Kamala and I are going to build on that progress and she’s going to build on it, I’ll be on the sidelines but I can do everything I can to help.
“He’d [Trump] rather cross [a picket line] than walk one. I have no problem walking the picket line,” said Biden, who last year became the first president to join striking workers on a picket line. “Neither does Kamala.”
“It’s all at risk because of Donald Trump, with the stroke of a pen he can get rid a lot of this, and do you think this guy gives a damn about your pensions?
Pennsylvania is considered a key battleground in the November 5 election. While Harris held events in Detroit and Pittsburgh, Trump, meanwhile, was off the campaign trail on Monday, choosing Truth Social to wish supporters a happy Labor Day while taking jabs at his opponent.
“Happy Labor Day to all of our American Workers who represent the Shining Example of Hard Work and Ingenuity. Under Comrade Kamala Harris, all Americans are suffering during this Holiday weekend – High Gas Prices, Transportation Costs are up, and Grocery Prices are through the roof. We can’t keep living under this weak and failed ‘Leadership,’” he wrote.
Biden’s appearance came just hours after he told reporters at the White House that he did not think Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal.
Closing his speech, he drew on the special bond he shares with his vice president, calling Harris next to him and holding her hand.
“Let me tell you about this woman. I know her. I trust her. Not a joke. The first decision I made as nominee in 2020 was selecting her as my vice president,” he said. “And by the way, it was the single best decision I made as president of the United States of America.”
“I know she’ll be a good president…she has a backbone like a ramrod. She has the moral compass of a saint, this woman knows what she’s doing.”
Biden concluded by promising Harris could “make “Donald Trump a loser again.”
US President Joe Biden (C-L) embraces US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during a campaign rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 2, 2024.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
The pair embraced and smiled at each other before Harris paused to lead a chant of, “Thank you Joe.” She went on to promise to continue Biden’s commitment to the most “pro-union administration in US history.”
“You really get to know somebody when you’re in the middle of a fight, when times are hard, when the forces are mighty, when people don’t believe something can’t get done…and I have spent more time with this extraordinary human being when the cameras were not in the room, when the stales were high…and Joe Biden has always stood with the workers of America…always,” she added.
