Now that he’s no longer running for reelection, President Joe Biden is ratcheting up his rhetoric against the Republican Party and taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook.
His first order of business was to lean into the jokes about his advanced age and to hand Trump a new nickname: “Donald Dump.”
Biden used the new moniker during a White House event on Thursday celebrating his administration’s deal with pharmaceutical companies to lower the costs of prescription drugs from Medicare.
During his speech, Biden went on the offence, slamming Republicans for refusing to support Democratic efforts to negotiate with Big Pharma. He also mocked Trump with the new name.
“The guy we’re running against, what’s his name? Donald Dump, or Donald whatever? They want to get rid of this, what we passed,” Biden said.
Biden, 81, also joked about his own age during the speech, after months of being criticised by Trump (who is three years Biden’s junior), Republicans and some Democrats who believed he was too old to run for re-election.
“I served in the Senate for 270 years,” Biden quipped. “I know I only look 40, but I’m a little bit older.”
“I only was 29 when I got elected,” he said, noting that he used to be criticised for being “too damn young.”
He added: “Now I’m too damn old.”
The announcement of the Big Pharma deal was the first joint appearance between Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris since Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and Harris secured the Democratic presidential nomination.
Harris spoke first, celebrating her accomplishments fighting drug costs as California’s attorney general and thanking Biden for his leadership in the administration. When Harris introduced Biden to speak, she led the audience in applauding the president, eliciting the crowd to chant: “Thank you Joe!”
As Biden closed the event, he highlighted the length of his political career one last time.
“I thank God that in the last three months I’m president of the United States, I was able to finally get done what I tried to get done when I was a young senator, 30 years old,” Biden concluded. “Thank you, God. Thank you.”