When Donald Trump attacks an opponent, he goes full sledgehammer with insults, threats and ALL CAPS declarations. President Joe Biden is more likely to use a small, sharp shiv to troll his opponents — but his attacks can be just as biting.
Biden’s more precise attacks will be on full display this week when the president will travel to Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s district in Pueblo, Colo. to “highlight how self-described MAGA Republicans like Representative Lauren Boebert are threatening those investments, jobs, and opportunities.”
The announcement signals that the event will essentially be a targeted strike against Boebert, a member who riles up Democrats more than most and who barely held on to her seat in the last election.
These differences are just another in a long list of ways that Biden and Trump are dramatically different men. Where Trump employs a bazooka to attack, oftentimes indiscriminate and brutal, Biden’s hits often single out one Republican at a time with barbs that wouldn’t register in the pantheon of attacks the former president has levied throughout his career.
In recent months, Biden has hit Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, among others, often with a policy focus. But Biden has also not been beneath a personal barb.
There are reasons for this difference, said Democratic operatives: Where Trump has made working with Democrats a violation of party orthodoxy, Biden has made working across the aisle part of his brand.
This will be displayed this week when Biden travels to Pueblo, Colorado – the home district of Rep. Lauren Boebert – to tout how a wind energy business expanded due to the Inflation Reduction Act that the Colorado Republican voted against in 2022.
The trip was first slated for a month ago but was delayed due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. In the walk-up to that event, however, the White House previewed their focus on Boebert, noting she called the bill “dangerous for America” and “bad for Colorado’s Third District.” And in a speech months before the planned event, Biden jokingly called Boebert “the very quiet Republican lady,” noted that the business was in her district and that she railed against the law.
“But that’s OK, she is welcoming it now,” Biden said.
In response to questions about Biden’s barbs, Boebert said in a statement that “instead of touting the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act… Joe Biden should work with me to get my Pueblo Jobs Act signed into law that will create 1,000 new jobs in Pueblo and help revitalize Southern Colorado’s economy.”
While she did not respond to Biden’s critiques directly, she also said families in her district were “being crushed by so-called ‘Bidenomics’ and blamed Biden for growing debt and inflation.
“Biden is being Biden,” said Eddie Vale, a Democratic operative. “He is able to be a little more subtle in his jabs because part of his message is he is also able to work together with Republicans when viable and that people want a president who is capable of self-control and not ranting and having tantrums like Trump or a toddler do.”
Josh Schwerin, a Democratic operative who worked against Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, said the Biden speech will highlight how “while Boebert and Trump measure success in likes and retweets, Biden measures it in jobs and lower energy costs.”
“This visit will serve as a reminder to Rep. Boebert’s constituents that while their MAGA member of Congress might not be working for them, President Biden is,” he said.
Biden’s attacks against Republicans like Boebert – a mix of policy and personal criticism – stand in stark contrast to Trump, who attacks with an all-of-the-above style, often in the most personal terms possible. Although Trump’s attacks have received bipartisan condemnation, his style has been widely adopted by other Republicans running for office.
Biden’s solo attacks on Republicans are often policy-based, even if he does like twisting the knife with some of the most controversial figures.
On manufacturing products in America, Biden singled out Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson at an event in Milwaukee by saying the Republican “doesn’t think American workers should manufacture products that require a lot of labor.”
On Social Security and Medicare, Biden honed in on Florida Sen. Rick Scott at an event in Tampa, poking fun at the Sunshine State’s notably older population by saying, “The very idea the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every…
Read More: Biden Heads to Boebert’s District — And Twists the Knife