The president cited Trump's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, his tax cut which benefitted wealthy Americans, and his pandemic policies that Biden said were "especially devastating to Black communities."
Then, capitalizing on Trump's comment in last month's debate in which he referenced "Black jobs," Biden said, "Folks, I know what a Black job is: it's the Vice President of the United States! I know what a Black job is: the first Black president in American history, Barack Obama!" as audience members roared in approval.
In a notable comment amid some calls for him to step aside for someone else to lead the ticket, primarily Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden said of her, "And by the way, she's not only a great vice president, she could be president of the United States."
At one point, Biden took aim individually at Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump's newly selected running mate, seeking to tie him, as he has done with Trump, to Project 2025.
"They're lying about their Project 2025. They want to deny your freedom: the freedom to vote, have your vote counted. They'd impose a nationwide ban on abortion. His new vice president, if you ever had any doubt, man, just take a look at what he's been saying," Biden said. "They want to prosecute their political enemies, they want to cut Social Security and Medicare."
Earlier in his remarks, though it's become the focus of his campaign's messaging in recent weeks, Biden flubbed his delivery of his anti-Project 2025 argument multiple times, at one point calling it "this project of 2024" and another "their program on 2025."
At another point, when announcing his administration's proposal to place a 5% cap on rent increases, the president seemed to have lost track of the teleprompter's words, pausing and leaning in before falsely saying the cap would be "no more than 55 dollars." About two minutes later, Biden correctly said it was 5%.
