The Full Belmonte, 3/8/2024
A high-energy election year State of the Union address
“President Joe Biden delivered a combative State of the Union address Thursday, targeting Donald Trump and launching a general election already guaranteed to be brutal. In the president's annual report to Congress, a defiant Biden declared that Americans now face a choice between democracy and despotism.
The president addressed a sweeping range of issues facing the nation and the world, from providing aid for Ukraine to expanding abortion rights. Overall, Biden told Americans from coast to coast that ‘The state of our union is strong and getting stronger.’
•Biden repeatedly hit former President Donald Trump, whom he only referred to as his ‘predecessor.’
•Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., delivered the Republican response, slamming the president's handling of the economy, the southern border, crime and foreign policy, calling him a ‘dithering and diminished leader.’
•Biden embraced strong rhetoric about the Southern border, igniting a heated confrontation with Republicans involving the death of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and referred to the Venezuelan man accused of killing her as an ‘illegal.’
Related: Read the full text of Biden's 2024 speech.” [USA Today]
Biden holds a button remembering the killing of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student whose body was found in a wooded area on the University of Georgia's main campus in Athens, Georgia.
Megan Smith, USA TODAY
Maria Shriver (L), Kate Cox (2nd L), who was denied emergency abortion care by the Texas Supreme Court, and US First Lady Jill Biden (R) applaud Latorya Beasley (2nd R), who recently had an IVF embryo transfer cancelled following the result of a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision during State of the Union address on March 7, 2024.
Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Biden the boxer
President Biden gestures to Republicans during the State of the Union last night. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
“President Biden helped ease Democrats' concerns about his age with a feisty and commanding State of the Union address last night, Axios' Alex Thompson and Hans Nichols write.
Why it matters: With anger, humor and frequent ad-libs that baited his Republican critics, Biden, 81, tried to show voters he's capable of serving another four-year term at a time when polls show voters don't think he is.
‘Hard for anyone at any age to give that performance,’ former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on CNN.
‘Nobody is going to talk about cognitive impairment now,’ cameras caught Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) telling Biden after the speech.
Peggy Noonan — a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan who doesn't like former President Trump — writes in her Wall Street Journal column that Biden's SOTU ‘showed energy and focus, blurred some words and thoughts, maintained a brisk pace’:
‘He almost never spoke softly. He sometimes yelled. There was a give-'em-hell-Harry vibration, as if he'd been reading up on Truman.’
Media in the Capitol's Statuary Hall ahead of the State of the Union. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Four takeaways:
1. Came ready to fight.
Biden's speech became raucous as he repeatedly looked to engage with GOP lawmakers.
Without ever saying Trump's name, Biden repeatedly attacked ‘my predecessor’ (a phrase he used 13 times) on everything from Ukraine to immigration, abortion and democracy.
Biden drew attention to Trump's age — 77 — by saying, ‘Some other people my age’ have a darker view of America.
2. Spread the blame on immigration
After embracing restrictive immigration policies — including some he campaigned against in 2020 — in a failed bipartisan Senate deal, Biden tried to portray Republicans as responsible for the ongoing problems.
‘We can fight about fixing the border, or we can fix it,’ he said.
One misstep: Biden infuriated some Democrats in an ad-libbed moment by using language they find degrading. He called the alleged killer of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student, ‘an illegal.’ (Former Speaker Pelosi said on CNN that Biden "should have said 'undocumented.'") And he called the student ‘Lincoln’ instead of Laken.
3. Calls voters to back abortion rights.
‘Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America,’ he said. ‘But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024.’
4. Gambled on the economy.
Biden continued to argue that his economic record is better than voters give him credit for — a tactic some Democrats worry is tone-deaf, noting polls that indicate most Americans don't agree.
Biden went further than in the past, predicting that inflation will continue to decline without an increase in unemployment. ‘The landing is and will be soft,’ he promised, a line that wasn't in his prepared remarks.
He cited familiar numbers about record-low unemployment, especially for Black and Hispanic Americans. He repeated his plans to increase corporate tax rates from 21% to 28%.
But in his victory lap, Biden acknowledged that many Americans aren't satisfied, especially when it comes to housing. He unveiled a plan for a two-year tax credit of $400 a month, geared to first-time homebuyers, to help take the sting out of high mortgage rates.
Read the speech ... Watch the speech ... Share this story.
Screenshot: Via X
V.P. audition: Katie Britt of Alabama delivered the GOP response — which doubled as a high-profile audition to be Trump's V.P. pick.
Britt — 42, the youngest woman in the Senate — spoke from her kitchen in Montgomery, Ala., describing Biden as a ‘dithering and diminished leader.’
Her performance was mocked by Dems as melodramatic.
Trump has credited Britt with helping persuade him to embrace IVF protections after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling.” [Axios]
U.S. Hiring Boom Continues With 275,000 Jobs Added
“Hiring kept booming in February, extending a red-hot start to the year that has renewed fears that inflation could remain stubbornly high.”
READ MORE at Washington Post
A judge rejected Trump’s attempt to delay paying E. Jean Carroll.
“The details: Trump was ordered in January to pay Carroll, a writer, $83.3 million for defaming her. After yesterday’s ruling, he has until Monday to post a bond or put up cash.
The bigger picture: The former president could be facing a severe cash crunch. He was also ordered in February to pay at least $450 million in his New York civil fraud case.
In related news: A hearing in Trump’s classified documents case was set for next week.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“A New York state judge yesterday ruled that the names, homes and business addresses of jurors in Trump’s upcoming hush-money trial will not be released publicly to prevent tampering.” [Bloomberg]
Uvalde
“Families of the victims of the May 2022 school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, are furious after an independent investigator tasked with probing the police response cleared all local officers of wrongdoing. Jesse Prado, a retired Austin police detective and the investigator in question, delivered his report to a packed city council meeting yesterday and was immediately met with criticism. Prado said the officers at the scene acted in good faith, despite multiple agencies having previously agreed law enforcement botched its response to the massacre. ‘You said that they did it in good faith. You call that good faith? They stood there 77 minutes and waited after they got call after call that kids were still alive in there,’ Veronica Mata, whose 10-year-old daughter Tess was killed, said in response. The report was part of a quest for accountability by families of the victims — one that has seemed increasingly elusive over the last two years.” [CNN]
New York City
In New York City. Adam Gray for The New York Times
“Some New Yorkers criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul after she deployed the National Guard and the State Police in the subway.” [New York Times]
Sweden officially became a member of NATO yesterday.
(The Washington Post)
“What to know: The Scandinavian nation overcame initial opposition from Hungary and Turkey to become the military alliance’s 32nd member. Finland joined last year.
It’s ironic: Russian President Vladimir Putin cited possible NATO expansion to justify his invasion of Ukraine. But that conflict has led to a strengthened alliance.”
Read this story at Washington Post
International Women's Day comes amid global crisis and celebrations
“Friday marks International Women's Day, an annual opportunity to celebrate the impact and influence of women on their communities around the world, and their predecessors who paved the way to progress. This year's IWD comes against a complex backdrop in the U.S., where American women's health, work and political power have been a major focus ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign. At last night's State of the Union, President Joe Biden warned not to underestimate women's ability to change America, saying: ‘those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. They found out though when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again, in 2024.’” Read more at USA Today
An emergency port on the Gaza coast would stem a hunger crisis
“The U.S. is launching an emergency mission to establish a port on the Gaza coast that can receive large shipments of humanitarian aid, President Joe Biden announced in last night's State of the Union address. A ‘temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast’ would accept ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters, increasing the region's intake ability of humanitarian resources. U.S. military personnel will assist from vessels offshore, but the operation is not expected to involve American troops on the ground in Gaza, he said. Read more
•As the Israel-Hamas war hits five months, a humanitarian crisis rages as bombardment continues.
•These graphics explain how the U.S. is air-dropping aid into war-torn Gaza.” [USA Today]
An aircraft airdrops humanitarian aid over Gaza the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Friday, March 8, 2024.
Leo Correa, AP
Mission by José Andrés
José Andrés unloads food packages from a World Central Kitchen truck in Kherson, Ukraine, in 2022. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
“José Andrés — the celebrity chef and founder of World Central Kitchen — is working with the UAE to land amphibious crafts loaded with food on the shores of Gaza, people familiar with the plan tell Axios' Hans Nichols and Barak Ravid.
Why it matters: The need for humanitarian aid in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war continues is critical and acute. About 1.7 million people have been displaced, the UN reports. Andrés' aid plan is ambitious and untested.
Recognizing that aid to Gaza has been dangerously deficient, President Biden announced in last night's State of the Union the U.S. military will build a temporary port in Gaza to receive shipments by sea.
But that project will take weeks to complete. So the U.S. government's aid delivered by sea won't arrive until late this month at the earliest.
The UAE and Andrés have been working on a faster — but riskier — solution. Their relief supplies could land in Gaza within a few days, delivered by ships arriving from Cyprus.
‘We are working with the urgency of now,’ Andrés told Axios.
‘It's worth trying. We have to try,’ he said, hinting at the massive logistical and technical challenges involved in a beach landing.” [Axios]
“Time is running out to reach a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war before Sunday, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts and religious and nationalist sentiments often spike.
US officials say weeks of negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar produced a potential deal: a six-week halt to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for dozens of Israeli hostages.
Hamas has so far rejected the proposal, demanding a permanent halt to the war. Israel says it won’t stop fighting until it eradicates the Iran-backed militant group’s leadership and military capacity, and all the hostages taken in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people, are freed.
If there is no cease-fire during Ramadan, there is little chance Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen will stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
The failure to reach a truce is frustrating plans to send aid into Gaza, where food is scarce and hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians live in tents. This week, the United Nations warned that children are dying because of a lack of food, water and medical services.
In his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden ordered the US military to establish a temporary port on the Gaza coast to permit delivery of humanitarian supplies. European nations and the United Arab Emirates are joining the effort.
WATCH: Biden says he directed the US military to establish a temporary port on the Gaza coast. Source: Bloomberg
The move indicates a shift in strategy by Washington, which had sought to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more aid into Gaza by land.
With a death toll surpassing 30,000, according to Hamas-run health authorities, Biden’s under pressure in his own party to act to ease the crisis. It’s become an issue that could damage him in the November presidential election.
Israel and international aid organizations have been exchanging accusations about why assistance hasn’t been arriving properly.
One thing is clear: There’s little chance that it will until the fighting stops.” [Bloomberg]
— Gwen Ackerman
Displaced people in Gaza on Wednesday. Photographer: AFP/Getty Images
“The UN’s atomic watchdog repeated demands for Russia to return the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, to Ukrainian control amid concern that deteriorating safety could lead to a meltdown. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors passed a formal resolution of censure against Russia late yesterday, a day after Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi held talks with President Vladimir Putin.” [Bloomberg]
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Photographer: Carl Court/Getty Images
“Portugal will hold an election this weekend after the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Antonio Costa, giving voters a chance to stick with the Socialists or join a shift to the right seen across Europe. With the risk of a hung parliament, there’s much focus on the far-right Chega party, which has had a rapid rise and wants to be the kingmaker after the vote.” [Bloomberg]
“Venezuela’s opposition is scrambling to find a challenger to President Nicolás Maduro with less than three weeks for candidates to register. There are divisions over how to proceed after leading contender María Corina Machado was banned from participating in the July election, with some supporting her attempts to fight disqualification and others wanting to pick a replacement.” [Bloomberg]
“Hong Kong proposed life sentences for crimes related to treason and insurrection in a draft security measure officials are seeking to fast-track into legislation.” [Bloomberg]
“The US is preparing a UN Security Council resolution that would warn against deploying nuclear weapons in space, sources say.” [Bloomberg]
March 8, 2024
By German Lopez
Good morning. We’re covering the State of the Union speech —
President Biden Doug Mills/The New York Times
The president’s case
“A year ago, few economists believed that President Biden could come before Congress and make the boast that he did last night: ‘I inherited an economy on the brink,’ he said. ‘Now our economy is literally the envy of the world.’
Back then, many experts expected a recession. They worried that America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, would have to crush the economy to reduce inflation. Instead, unemployment is near its lowest point in half a century. Wages have risen faster than prices. Inflation has come down to more manageable levels.
Before the biggest audience he’ll address until his nomination convention this summer, Biden was able to argue he had saved America from economic ruin. Today’s newsletter will look at the surprisingly strong state of the economy — and Biden’s role in its rebound. (Below, we also cover other highlights from last night’s speech.)
Yes, Biden may claim too much credit. Presidents don’t control the U.S. economy. But they also tend to receive too much blame when it struggles. And Biden’s approval ratings are weak partly because Americans have been unhappy with the high inflation of the past few years. Central to his campaign for re-election is an effort to persuade voters that the economy has turned a corner.
Biden’s contribution
Here is the case in favor of Biden’s handling of the economy: Compare it with the slow recovery that followed the 2007-8 financial crisis.
In response to that recession, the federal government underreacted. Congress passed stimulus measures that many economists now say were too small. Inflation didn’t rise, but the unemployment rate remained above 5 percent for nearly seven years after the downturn ended.
With Covid, the government avoided the same mistake. Congress passed multiple stimulus measures under Donald Trump and then another, the American Rescue Plan, after Biden took office. All of this was more than triple the size of the measures for the previous recession, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
It worked: Unemployment fell below 5 percent after less than a year and a half. Millions of Americans got jobs years earlier than they would have if the federal government had reacted as meagerly as it did before. And the U.S. has grown faster than its peers, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:
Sources: Office of National Statistics (U.K. data); St. Louis Federal Reserve (others) | Data is through the fourth quarter of 2023. | By The New York Times
‘America is rising,’ Biden said last night. ‘We have the best economy in the world.’
Biden’s critics counter that the government actually overreacted to the Covid recession — and helped spur inflation as a result. The stimulus efforts flooded Americans and businesses with cash. That led to higher demand for a finite supply of goods and services, and prices rose. The Federal Reserve then had to step in and raise interest rates to lower inflation. In the past, similar moves led to recessions.
But the central bank has so far succeeded in executing what it called a ‘soft landing’: It has cooled the economy just enough to tame prices but not enough to cause a downturn. Year-over-year inflation is now around 3 percent, down from a peak of 9 percent in 2022. And unemployment has not increased. Americans have barely felt a landing, let alone a hard one.
For Biden’s supporters, this is vindication. Yes, the couple of years of higher inflation were painful. But the economy has moved back on track much faster than it did after the financial crisis.
Will it help Biden?
Politically, the economy’s strength should be good for Biden. Solid growth historically carries presidents to re-election.
Yet many Americans do not feel the good news. Biden’s approval rating is low. Consumer sentiment has improved in the past year, but it’s below historical averages, surveys show. Americans remain upset about higher prices, particularly for food and housing, even if they have subsided. And many people are focused on other issues: chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border, Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘It doesn’t make news, but in a thousand cities and towns, the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told,’ Biden said yesterday.
Biden’s advantage is time. There are still eight months until the election. Before then, Americans may come to appreciate the strong economy. Inflation could fall further. Perhaps new federal investments in American-made computer chips, infrastructure and clean energy will start to have a bigger effect on voters’ livelihoods. Biden’s ability to win a second term may depend on it.
More from the speech
On 2024: Biden criticized Trump (whom he referred to as ‘my predecessor’) throughout the speech, including for praising Vladimir Putin, for lying about the 2020 election and for trying to ‘pull America back to the past.’
On help for Gaza: Biden announced that the U.S. military would build a floating pier off the enclave’s coast to let ships deliver aid.
On Israel’s military: Biden said Israel had a ‘fundamental responsibility’ to protect civilians. But, he added, ‘Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards.’
On his age: Biden addressed concerns with a joke. ‘I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,’ he said. Then he added, ‘The issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old are our ideas.’
On a second term: He discussed policies he would pursue, such as giving first-time home buyers a tax credit, capping all prescription drug costs and restoring abortion rights nationwide.
On junk fees: Biden touted his administration’s plan to cap most credit card late fees at $8 a month. Trade groups sued to block it yesterday.
Read more takeaways from the speech and a fact check.
More on the crowd
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene Doug Mills/The New York Times
The speech exemplified the raucous nature of modern American politics, The Times’s Peter Baker wrote: ‘Republicans jeered and booed. Democrats chanted, ‘Four more years,’ as if it were a campaign rally.’
Biden addressed the recent killing of a Georgia nursing student after Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump ally, taunted him to do so. He held up a pin with the student’s name, Laken Riley.
Biden also referred to the Venezuelan migrant charged in the killing as ‘an illegal.’ Some Democrats criticized him for using that word.
Despite the interruption, Speaker Mike Johnson was largely successful at keeping Republicans from intervening. See his silent facial expressions.
George Santos, the New York Republican expelled from Congress last year, attended the speech. As a former member, he has lifetime floor privileges.
Commentary on the speech
Watching the State of the Union in Washington. Shuran Huang for The New York Times
‘The most important thing about this State of the Union was not the content but the delivery,’ Jamelle Bouie writes in Times Opinion. ‘Biden was combative, energized and feisty — and partisan.’ (Opinion writers tallied Biden’s best and worst moments.)
His speech was ‘more like something one would hear at the D.N.C.,’ The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter writes.
‘Democrats will be pleased,’ Matthew Continetti writes in The Washington Free Beacon. ‘But I am also skeptical it will persuade independents and working-class men and women of all races that Biden has the answers to America’s problems.’
State of the Union addresses are often fleeting. But in rare cases they make a lasting impact, G. Elliott Morris of 538 notes. ‘Biden may get a real boost.’
Stephen Colbert recapped Biden’s performance on “The Late Show.”” [New York Times]
Is time running out for TikTok?
The TikTok celebrities Janette Ok and Imani Carrier. Shuran Huang for The New York Times
“New legislation could be the most significant threat yet to TikTok, a wildly popular Chinese-owned app. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the legislation this week that would give the app's owner ByteDance six months to sell off TikTok or face a ban in the United States. In a statement, TikTok decried the bill as an attack on the First Amendment and would ‘deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs.’” Read more at USA Today
Flight MH370 vanished 10 years ago today.
“What we know: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, when it suddenly dropped from radar. There were 239 people on board.
What remains a mystery: Almost everything else. We don’t know what happened on the plane, which has not been found. The possibility of a new search was raised this week.”
Read this story at Washington Post
“Rivian, a struggling electric vehicle company, will halt construction of a $5 billion factory in Georgia.” [New York Times]
An Alzheimer’s drug that was expected to be approved soon by the F.D.A. must instead undergo more regulatory scrutiny.
“Eli Lilly’s drug, donanemab, was expected to be approved this month, but the agency has decided to convene a panel of independent experts to evaluate its safety and efficacy.”
Read more at Washington Post
Scientists have used cells from amniotic fluid to grow mini lungs and other organs
“Scientists have created miniorgans from cells floating in the fluid that surrounds a fetus in the womb – an advance they believe could open up new areas of prenatal medicine. Read more.
Why this matters:
Miniorgans, or “organoids,” are tiny, simplified structures that can be used to test new medical treatments and study how real organs work. Researchers envision their approach could help doctors monitor and treat congenital conditions before birth and develop personalized therapies for a baby in the womb.
The tissue-specific stem cells collected were shed by the fetus, as normally happens during pregnancy. Collecting cells from amniotic fluid gets around regulations about taking stem cells directly from fetal tissue, allowing scientists to get cells into the latter part of pregnancy.” [AP News]
Iditarod musher penalized
“Remember the Iditarod story from Wednesday? Dallas Seavey, the man who shot and killed a moose after it attacked his dogs during the race, was penalized two hours for not sufficiently gutting the moose. Seavey remains in first place, though. And the good news: His injured dog, Faloo, was medically cleared to go home yesterday.” [The Athletic]
Mike Tyson will face Jake Paul in a boxing match.
“What’s happening? Netflix will stream the bout between the former heavyweight champion and the social media star on July 20, the platform announced yesterday.
What to know: Tyson will be 58 by the time of the fight and hasn’t fought professionally since 2005. Paul, 27, began his boxing career in 2020 and has a 9-1 record.”
Read this story at Washington Post
It’s almost time for the 96th Academy Awards.
“What to expect: “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” are set to dominate the big categories. And we’ll get to see Ryan Gosling perform “I’m Just Ken.”
Get ready: Take this quiz to figure out which nominated films you should watch. Try these recipes inspired by Oscar nominees. And tune in to ABC at 7 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Murdoch's fifth
Elena Zhukova (center), 2011. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency via Shutterstock
“Rupert Murdoch — the 92-year-old mogul who just stepped down as chairman of his media empire — is engaged again.
Murdoch is planning to marry retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67, for his fifth marriage ... and sixth engagement, the N.Y. Times reports under the headline, "Yep, He Did It Again."
The wedding, scheduled for June, will be held at Murdoch's vineyard and estate in the Santa Monica Mountains.” [Axios]
Akira Toriyama in 1982. Jiji Press/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“Akira Toriyama, who was one of Japan’s leading authors of comics and most famous for the highly successful manga and anime franchise “Dragon Ball,” died at 68.” [New York Times]