President Biden ripped former President Trump as “Donald Dump” while signaling unity with Vice President Harris at the duo’s first appearance together at an official event since she replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Harris and Biden walked out together to Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care of Our Own” on a community college stage in Largo, Md., to all smiles, waving at a crowd holding signs related to lower prescription drug costs.
Harris spoke first while Biden stood behind her, a role reversal on full display since the president dropped his 2024 bid and passed the torch to his vice president to run against Trump after facing pressure to step aside or risk losing the election.
Harris used her time to laud the administration’s work on health care costs while also praising Biden, whom she called an “extraordinary human being” while introducing him.
Biden, meanwhile, returned the compliment while offering a full-throated endorsement: “She’s going to make one hell of a president,” he told the crowd.
The president also took jabs at Trump, his own former presidential rival, in part by trying out a new nickname.
“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 of health care cost initiatives his administration touted.
Biden also took a page out of his own campaign playbook to blast the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which Trump has worked to distance himself from, and warned that Republicans want to give big pharmaceutical companies a win.
“Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is: Beat the hell out of them. I mean it,” Biden said.
Biden and Harris traveled to Maryland to tout that the first round of Medicare drug price negotiations will save an estimated $6 billion. The savings from Medicare negotiations represent a victory over the pharmaceutical industry for Democrats, who have campaigned on their work to lower health care costs.
The savings come from the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in 2022.
The crowd, one of the most energetic Biden has seen in recent months, chanted “thank you Joe!” throughout the event, especially when Harris praised him during her remarks and for his work on lowering drug prices.
“There’s a lot of love in this room for our president. And I think it’s for many, many reasons. Few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including to expand access on affordable health care, than Joe Biden. And today, we take the next step — thank you Joe — forward in our fight,” she added.
Biden is expected to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, before Harris takes the stage in Chicago on Thursday to formally accept the presidential nomination just a month after the president dropped out of the race and endorsed her.
