Biden returns to campaign trail with speech to NAACP in Nevada

LAS VEGAS – US President Joe Biden returns to the campaign trail on July 16 in the battleground state of Nevada, where he will address the NAACP National Convention, a major gathering of black voters, in his first political speech after the

attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump

.

After the shooting of Mr Biden’s Republican rival on July 13, the Biden campaign immediately pulled its TV ads, called off verbal attacks on Trump and focused instead on a message of unity.

The campaign’s strategy previously was to focus on tough criticism of Trump as a threat to US democracy, and to highlight his failure to admit his 2020 election loss and his felony convictions.

Now, it is trying to calibrate a less pugilistic message that still strikes a stark comparison.

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), the oldest and largest US civil rights organisation, represents a key constituency for the Democratic Party.

While blacks turned out heavily for Mr Biden in 2020, polls have shown waning support for him among black voters in this election.

Mr Derrick Johnson, the NAACP president, told Reuters on July 15 that he hopes Mr Biden lays out a plan to help black Americans who are struggling economically and who are fearful that their rights are under threat.

“People are concerned about the price of gas, price of bread, but they’re also concerned with their growing knowledge around Project 2025,” Mr Johnson said, referring to a set of conservative policy proposals that have become a lightning rod for Trump critics.

On July 14, Mr Biden used the formal setting of the White House Oval Office to ask Americans to lower the political temperature and recommit themselves to resolving their differences peacefully.

He said the Nov 5 presidential election will be a “time of testing”.

In an interview with NBC News, Mr Biden said on July 15 that

it was a mistake

for him to use the term “bullseye” in reference to Trump during a recent donor campaign call.

Mr Biden postponed a trip to Texas on July 15, where he was expected to speak on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library.

White House officials hope the Trump assassination attempt might ease pressure on Mr Biden to step aside as his Democratic Party’s candidate in response to concerns about his mental acuity and stamina to govern for another four-year term.

On July 17, Mr Biden is scheduled to speak to Latino leaders at the UnidosUS Annual Conference also in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Trump and Republicans are gathered in Milwaukee for the party’s nominating convention that kicked off on July 15 with the selection of US Senator J.D. Vance as Trump’s running mate. REUTERS