DETROIT (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday forcefully defied the growing number of critics in his own party who have called on him to exit the race, pivoting to warnings about a second Donald Trump term and declaring he was “not done yet.”
As a raucous Detroit crowd chanted “don’t you quit!” and “we got your back!” Biden said — again — that he was still running for reelection and vowed to “shine a spotlight on Donald Trump" and what the Republican would do if he returned to the White House. Biden lambasted an expansive far-right policy agenda crafted by conservative think tanks that Trump has scrambled to distance himself from, while ticking off several items on his own wish list for the first 100 days of his second term.
Click to Gallery
President Joe Biden on stage as he waits to be introduced at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, during a campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks to supporters at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, during a campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden gestures during his remarks at Renaissance High School during a Friday, July 12, 2024, campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
President Joe Biden is gesturing before speaking at a campaign event at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
President Joe Biden gestures while speaking to supporters at a campaign event at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Friday, July 12, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
President Joe Biden on stage with supporters after speaking at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, during a campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The shadow of Air Force One with President Joe Biden aboard is pictured as it approaches Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Friday July 12, 2024, for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden, second right, exits Air Force One on arrival to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Friday July 12, 2024, for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks to supporters at Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden, right, is greeted by Octavia Spencer upon arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Friday July 12, 2024, for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks to supporters at Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden greets supporters at Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden, right, speaks as Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., left, cheers during a visit to Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, July 12, 2024. Biden is traveling to Detroit for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
President Joe Biden walks from the podium after a news conference Thursday July 11, 2024, on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference Thursday July 11, 2024, on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
At the same school where, four years ago, then-candidate Biden positioned himself as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders, the embattled president, who has been under pressure for more than two weeks to step aside, made it clear he was going nowhere.
“You made me the nominee, no one else — not the press, not the pundits, not the insiders, not donors," Biden said, to cheers. “You, the voters. You decided. No one else. And I'm not going anywhere.”
The show of force from Biden at the evening rally was part of his team's relentless sprint to convince fretting lawmakers, nervous donors and a skeptical electorate that at the age of 81, he is still capable of being president. But a spate of travel to battleground states, interviews with journalists and a rare solo news conference have not tamped down the angst within the party about Biden's candidacy and his prospects against Trump in November.
So far, one Democratic senator and roughly 20 House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Democrats he had met privately with Biden after the news conference, sharing the “full breadth” of views from lawmakers about the path forward in the president’s campaign for reelection. Earlier Friday, in a virtual meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Biden was told directly by California Rep. Mike Levin that he should step down as the Democratic nominee, according to three people familiar with that call who were granted anonymity to discuss it.
But the support Biden retains among Democrats was clear among the hundreds of supporters at the rally, who waved signs that read “Motown is Joetown” and enthusiastically cheered the president's remarks — and jeered at any mention of Trump.
“He inherited millions of dollars only to squander it. He’s filed for bankruptcy six times," Biden said. "He even went bankrupt running a casino. I didn’t think that was even possible. Doesn’t the house always win in a casino?”
He also singled out Project 2025, a massive proposed overhaul of the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in the Trump administration that Trump has insisted he knows “nothing” of.
“You heard about it? It’s a blueprint for a second Trump term that every American should read and understand," Biden said, accusing his opponent of trying to run from the plan “just like he's trying to distance himself from overturning Roe vs. Wade because he knows how toxic it is. But we're not gonna let that happen.”
Biden also criticized the media, claiming was focusing on his errors and not on Trump’s. It prompted his supporters to boo reporters in the room — a staple of Trump rallies — though Biden tried briefly to calm the jeers, saying “no, no, no.”
He smiled, though, when the audience repeatedly chanted “lock him up” in reference to Trump, who was convicted on felony charges in New York relating to his hush money payments to an adult film actress around the 2016 election. Trump frequently encouraged the same chant regarding his political opponents.
The Biden campaign and the White House did not immediately respond when asked if Biden condoned the chant.
Biden's campaign has indirectly acknowledged that Biden's route to the White House is narrowing, saying the so-called “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is now the “clearest pathway” to victory even while insisting other battleground states like Arizona and Nevada are not out of reach.
That strategy is reflected in how Biden is redoubling his efforts in the Midwestern states, hitting Detroit nearly one week after he campaigned in Madison, Wisconsin; Philadelphia; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Rallying enthusiasm in Detroit and among its sizable Black population could prove decisive for Biden’s chances of winning Michigan, which Biden reclaimed in 2020 after Trump won it four years prior by just over 10,000 votes.
Campaign aides underscored the enthusiasm for Biden after his news conference at the conclusion of this week's NATO summit. Communications director Michael Tyler said donations “exploded," saying there were 40,000 contributions on Thursday night — a clip that was seven times the average.
But at a critical juncture when Biden needs to consolidate support, key Democratic leaders in the state were notably absent Friday.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is co-chair of Biden’s campaign, was out of the state. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is vying for Michigan’s open Senate seat, were also not there. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, whom Biden actively courted during last year’s strikes, was traveling for a conference.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, who is seeking reelection in a battleground district in western Michigan, is among the lawmakers who've called on Biden to step aside.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, one of the more prominent Democratic leaders appearing with Biden on Friday, refused to say whether she believed Biden should still be the party’s presidential nominee.
“I’m just focused on making sure people know what’s at stake this year and know how to exercise their vote,” she said.
But in a swing state that he won by close to 3 percentage points in 2020, Biden continued to command support. Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Haley Stevens, Rep. Shri Thanedar and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler accompanied Biden on Air Force One from Washington to Detroit, in Biden's fourth trip to the state this year. Also attending was Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer. And over a dozen Detroit-area state lawmakers signed onto a joint letter Thursday “to express our unwavering support" for Biden.
After the rally, Ken Jacobs, 71, said Biden’s speech, which stretched to over 30 minutes, should put to rest any talk that he couldn’t handle another four years in office.
“He should repeat that exact speech at the Democratic convention,” said Jacobs. “It shows that he has the stamina for this.”
Anne Baxter, 62, said Biden is correct in staying in the race and decried the media, celebrities and other Democratic leaders calling on him to step down.
“I’m glad he’s not listening to these knuckleheads, because it's not the base,” the retired teacher said. “You heard these people here.”
In 2016, Trump won Michigan by a thin margin attributed in part to reduced turnout in predominantly Black areas like Detroit’s Wayne County, where Hillary Clinton received far fewer votes than Barack Obama did in previous elections.
Biden reclaimed much of that support four years ago, when he defeated Trump in Michigan by a 154,000-vote margin, but he has work to do. Detroit, which holds a population that is nearly 78% Black, saw a 12% turnout in the Feb. 27 primary, almost half that of the 23% total turnout in the state.
Key parts of Biden’s coalition in Michigan are also upset with him over Israel’s offensive following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Michigan holds the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation, contributing to over 100,000 people voting “Uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic primary in February.
Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Isabella Volmert in Detroit and Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden on stage as he waits to be introduced at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, during a campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks to supporters at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, during a campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden gestures during his remarks at Renaissance High School during a Friday, July 12, 2024, campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
President Joe Biden is gesturing before speaking at a campaign event at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
President Joe Biden gestures while speaking to supporters at a campaign event at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Friday, July 12, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
President Joe Biden on stage with supporters after speaking at Renaissance High School, Friday, July 12, 2024, during a campaign event in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The shadow of Air Force One with President Joe Biden aboard is pictured as it approaches Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Friday July 12, 2024, for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden, second right, exits Air Force One on arrival to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Friday July 12, 2024, for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks to supporters at Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden, right, is greeted by Octavia Spencer upon arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Friday July 12, 2024, for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks to supporters at Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden greets supporters at Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden, right, speaks as Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., left, cheers during a visit to Garage Grill & Fuel Bar during a campaign stop in Northville, Mich., Friday July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, July 12, 2024. Biden is traveling to Detroit for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
President Joe Biden walks from the podium after a news conference Thursday July 11, 2024, on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference Thursday July 11, 2024, on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
What's in a name change, after all?
The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America’s highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it’s called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed.
But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his “America First” worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian “Gulf of America” on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”
Map lines are inherently political. After all, they're representations of the places that are important to human beings — and those priorities can be delicate and contentious, even more so in a globalized world.
There’s no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features across the Earth.
“Denali” is the mountain's preferred name for Alaska Natives, while “McKinley" is a tribute to President William McKinley, designated in the late 19th century by a gold prospector. China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and the countries surrounding what the United States calls the South China Sea have multiple names for the same body of water.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. Many Arab countries don’t recognize Israel and instead call it Palestine. And in many official releases, Israel calls the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, “Judea and Samaria.”
Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
Trump's executive order — titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — concludes thusly: “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”
But what to call the gulf with the 3,700-mile coastline?
“It is, I suppose, an internationally recognized sea, but (to be honest), a situation like this has never come up before so I need to confirm the appropriate convention,” said Peter Bellerby, who said he was talking over the issue with the cartographers at his London company, Bellerby & Co. Globemakers. “If, for instance, he wanted to change the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, we would probably just ignore it."
As of Wednesday night, map applications for Google and Apple still called the mountain and the gulf by their old names. Spokespersons for those platforms did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
A spokesperson for National Geographic, one of the most prominent map makers in the U.S., said this week that the company does not comment on individual cases and referred questions to a statement on its web site, which reads in part that it "strives to be apolitical, to consult multiple authoritative sources, and to make independent decisions based on extensive research.” National Geographic also has a policy of including explanatory notes for place names in dispute, citing as an example a body of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula, referred to as the Sea of Japan by the Japanese and the East Sea by Koreans.
In discussion on social media, one thread noted that the Sears Tower in Chicago was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009, though it's still commonly known by its original moniker. Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, renamed its Market Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard and then switched back to Market Street several years later — with loud complaints both times. In 2017, New York's Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo to great controversy. The new name appears on maps, but “no one calls it that,” noted another user.
“Are we going to start teaching this as the name of the body of water?” asked one Reddit poster on Tuesday.
“I guess you can tell students that SOME PEOPLE want to rename this body of water the Gulf of America, but everyone else in the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico,” came one answer. “Cover all your bases — they know the reality-based name, but also the wannabe name as well.”
Wrote another user: “I'll call it the Gulf of America when I'm forced to call the Tappan Zee the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which is to say never.”
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)