DETROIT – President Joe Biden tore apart the “right wing.” Project 2025” and made it the main theme of his speech at a Michigan battlefield rally on Friday, where he tried to put a lid on it. Democratic challenges he is withdrawing from the presidential race.
“Folks, Project 2025 is the greatest attack on our system of government and personal liberty ever proposed in the history of this country,” Biden said, adding that the initiative is “driven and paid for by the Trump people” and is “a plan for the second Trump.”
Bringing the crowd to their feet with a more energetic performance than usual, Biden said his Republican challenger would create a “nightmare” in the country if he were elected and carried out. “Four more years of Donald Trump is deadly serious. “Project 2025 is deadly serious,” Biden said, describing it as a threat to American values.
When he took the stage, Biden shouted, “You don’t go!” was greeted with slogans. and “We’ve got your back!” The president told them there had been “a lot of speculation lately” about whether he would stay in the race.
“I run and we will win!” he said.
Project 2025 is a 900-page policy roadmap written by Trump allies and former administration officials, including Paul Dance and Spencer Chretien, ahead of Trump’s second term. It would dismantle much of the US government and replace it with federal workers committed to Trump’s vision, as well as radically overhaul the tax code and impose abortion restrictions. It is run by the Heritage Foundation and supported by dozens of conservative groups.
Biden is zeroing in on Project 2025 as a mechanism to unify a Democratic Party divided over its future in the race after a shocking debate performance that some in the party saw as politically fatal to his re-election prospects. Many voters at the rally stood by him and expressed their displeasure at the Democrats’ call for him to step aside. The right-wing document was clearly being circulated as a rallying cry for those within the Democratic Party eager to keep Trump out of the White House.
A Biden aide said the president’s campaign plans to continue focusing on the 2025 bill at next week’s GOP convention.
Before Biden’s speech at the Detroit rally, the first seven Michigan voters NBC News spoke to were all aware of Project 2025 and had strong opinions about it.
“It’s terrible. It will completely destroy our democracy, fill the entire government with Trump loyalists,” said Deanna Zapico of Royal Oak. “It would be like Hitler in 1933. There would be no election for a long time. This is my fear.”
“I share it with everybody,” Zapico said.
Deborah Fuertes, from Brighton, summed it up in one word: “Scary.”
“It’s an existential threat,” he said.
Angela Heard, a Grosse Pointe Woods-based sales manager, said Trump’s “name is on top of everything.” “If we don’t get our word in — we’re going to be like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ together.”
The day before the rally, Trump tried to distance himself from the policy agenda.
“I don’t know anything about Project 2025. I haven’t seen it, I don’t know who is leading it, and unlike our very well-received Republican Platform, it has nothing to do with it,” he wrote on social media. “The Radical Left Democrats are having a field day but trying to shut me down for any policy expressed or said.”
one NPR/PBS/Marist survey released on Friday, 16% of voters expressed a positive opinion of Project 2025, while 42% expressed a negative opinion. Another 42% are not sure or have not heard of it.
Some Biden voters at the rally said they were frustrated or angry with Democrats trying to push Biden out of the race, worried that it would weaken the party and play into Trump’s hands.
“This is the bottom line,” said Mary McInnes of South Lyon, who worried it was too late to change the candidate without adding to the chaos. “We are where we are and we need to get our voices together.”
Fuentes added: “We have to stop eating our own.”
Abby Clark, a longtime Democratic organizer and former Detroit-based campaign aide, said there was a “strong fear” that Trump would win if Biden stayed in the race.
“The vast majority of people I’ve talked to think it would be ideal for the president to step back and let someone younger step forward,” said Clark, a member of the Democratic volunteer group Passing the Torch.
Before Biden spoke, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist received a standing ovation as he probed Democrats who wanted Biden gone.
“Let me tell you, some people have a little too much fun going on television and talking trash about our president,” he said.
Heard said he believes Vice President Kamala Harris will have a better chance of defeating Trump after Biden lost support during the debate. Still, he hopes to stay in the race and win a second term. And he believes Democrats need to stop attacking each other.
“I wish the Democratic Party was like the Republican Party,” he said, referring to the GOP’s unwavering support for Trump despite his conviction and other criminal charges he faces.
“They are with him,” he said. “Let’s stand by our candidate”
Biden rarely targeted the press for the rally.
“They were beating me,” he said, referring to reporters in the room. “I mix up the names sometimes,” he said. “But guess what? Donald Trump got a free pass.”
A woman who walked out after the rally said the president’s performance was “amazing” and encouraged her to volunteer to organize a get-out-the-vote rally for him in Detroit this fall.