Biden says he’s Republicans’ ‘nightmare’ over social spending cuts – as it happened

That’s all for today… here are the key events that happened across the country.

Joe Biden described himself as Republicans’ “nightmare” over their proposed cuts to social programs. “I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” Biden said. “If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare.” Speaking at the University of Tampa, Biden attacked Rick Scott, the Republican senator from Florida who has said programs including social security and medicare should expire every five years, and need to be reauthorized to continue. “I guarantee you it will not happen. I will veto it I’ll defend social security and medicare,” Biden said.

Biden also took a dig at Ron De Santis, the Republican governor of Florida who may yet be his opponent in the 2024 presidential election. De Santis has effectively denied Floridians healthcare, Biden noted, by failing to sign on to the Affordable health care act’s Medicaid expansion provision. “Over 1.1m people in Florida would be eligible for Medicaid if Governor De Santis would just agree to expand it,” Biden said. “This isn’t calculus.”

China’s balloon that crossed the United States was equipped to collect intelligence signals, the Biden administration said. The White House said the balloon, which was gunned down by the US last weekend, was part of a huge, military-linked aerial spy program that targeted more than 40 countries. A fleet of balloons is used specifically for spying, outfitted with high-tech equipment designed to collect sensitive information from targets across the globe, the US said.

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, moved closer to taking over Walt Disney World’s self-governing district on Thursday, after House Republicans approved legislation meant to punish the company over its opposition to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The legislation would leave Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, in which Disney has the power to decide what it builds including, in theory, its own nuclear plant, intact, but would change its name and require DeSantis to appoint a five-member governing board, Associated Press reported:

Board members are currently named through entities controlled by Disney and are tasked with overseeing the government services the district provides in the company’s properties in Florida.

For DeSantis, the legislation is a victory on the nation’s cultural battlegrounds, where he has harnessed political tensions on gender, race and education to bolster his position as a conservative firebrand while on a path toward an expected 2024 White House run.

Last week, the Republican leaders of the Florida House and Senate, in coordination with the governor, ordered lawmakers to return for a special session to complete the state takeover of the Reedy Creek district, taking up a bill that would preserve its operating functions and financial responsibilities.

The legislation is all but certain to pass in the statehouse, where a Republican supermajority is eager to carry out the governor’s agenda. Democrats have widely criticized the legislation as a retaliatory power grab by the governor but are powerless to do much else other than delay its passage.

“This bill sends a message from the governor to businesses in our state that if they dissent, they will be punished,” said Rep. Rita Harris, a Democrat. “And this is chilling. It’s not just chilling to me, it’s chilling to freedom of speech.”

Our columnist Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, takes a look at troubling figures for Democrats – Joe Biden’s stubbornly low approval numbers:

In his first State of the Union address since Democrats lost control of the House, Joe Biden celebrated recent economic gains – especially declining inflation and soaring job growth – while taking a bow for legislative victories that will curb prescription drug prices, expand health benefits for veterans, slow climate change and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

Biden’s speech reminded me of how good a president he has been, especially given what he inherited from the former guy, who made a fetish out of dividing and angering Americans while accomplishing nothing except giving a giant tax cut to big corporations and the rich.

Biden has steadied the nation. He has brought competent people into government. He has enacted important legislation. He has fortified America’s alliances against despots like Putin. He has strengthened American democracy.

All of which raises a troubling paradox. Only 42% of Americans approve of Biden’s presidency – barely above the 41% at his last State of the Union address, and a lower percent at this point than any president in 75 years of polling except for Trump and Reagan (who at this point was hobbled by a deep recession).

And despite Biden’s significant achievements, fully 62% think he has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing”.

Read on…

Meta has restored Donald Trump’s access to Facebook and Instagram, a spokesperson confirmed on Thursday, following a two-year suspension after the deadly Capitol Hill riot on January 6 2021.

Meta said in January it would lift Trump’s suspension “in the coming weeks”, but “with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses”. Those guardrails include potential suspensions ranging from one month to two years should Trump violate its content policies again.

Trump’s Facebook page was visible on Thursday. His most recent posts were all from January 6 2021, including one which read:

“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol that day chanted for Pence to be hanged.

Trump now regains access to key platforms for voter outreach and political fundraising ahead of another run for the White House in 2024. He had 23 million followers on Instagram and 34 million on Facebook when the pages were shut down.

Joe Biden told Republicans he is “their nightmare” during a speech in Florida on Thursday, as he offered a stark contrast between his administration and the GOP.

Speaking at the University of Tampa, Biden told the crowd that the GOP is seeking to hobble social programs that he has pledged to protect.

“I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” Biden said.

“Well let me say this: if that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare.”

Biden was in Tampa touting his administration’s accomplishments in its first two years.

The president sought to remind those watching that he had signed into law legislation on infrastructure, prescription drug costs, and social reform.

He attacked Rick Scott, the Republican senator from Florida who released a plan which would mean programs including social security and medicare would expire every five years, and need to be reauthorized to continue.

“I guarantee you it will not happen. I will veto it I’ll defend social security and medicare,” Biden said.

Biden also took a dig at Ron De Santis, the Republican governor of Florida who may yet be his opponent in the 2024 presidential election.

De Santis has effectively denied Floridians healthcare, Biden noted, by failing to sign on to the Affordable health care act’s Medicaid expansion provision.

“Over 1.1m people in Florida would be eligible for Medicaid if Governor De Santis would just agree to expand it,” Biden said.

“This isn’t calculus.”

Wrapping up his speech, Biden touts his achievements in office.

“12m jobs created,” he says.

“800,000 manufacturing jobs.”

Biden says the US has lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.

Less bombastically, he adds: “Inflation is coming down.”

A record 10m Americans have applied to start a small business, Biden continues.

“Let’s build on the promise we made. Keep prescription drug costs down, defend Social Security and Medicare,” Biden says.

“I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future.

“Just remember who we are for god’s sake. We’re the United States of America.”

On that triumphant note some marching band music starts blasting, and Biden heads off into the crowd to shake some hands.

“I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” Biden says.

“If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare,” he adds, to laughter and applause.

Biden talks about Rick Scott, the Republican senator from Florida, who released a plan last year to ‘sunset’ all federal programs. It would mean programs including social security and medicare are federal programs – would expire every five years, and need to be reauthorized to continue.

“I guarantee you it will not happen. I will veto it I’ll defend social security and medicare,” Biden says.

Biden then turns his focus to Sen Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, a Republican who has also threatened measures which would likely cut the programs.

“From the time you’re a teenager you had money taken out for these programs,” Biden says.

Social Security is more than a government program, it’s “a promise we made”, he adds.

“And now these guys want to cut it. I don’t get it, I really don’t. I don’t know who they think they are.”

Referencing legislation passed on infrastructure, protecting gay marriage, and social programs, Biden says:

“We did that in a bipartisan way: Democrats and Republicans did it. I don’t know why they won’t acknowledge that any part of what’s making the country great again.”

Biden moves on to the Inflation Reduction act, which introduced a 15% tax on some of the wealthiest companies in the US.

“I thought it was time people began to pay their fair share a little bit,” Biden says.

Joe Biden is championing his administration’s achievements and insisting that he will further protect Social Security and Medicare at a speech in Tampa, Florida.

Biden touts bipartisan accomplishments of his first two years, including legislation on infrastructure, climate and healthcare, before repeating a theme from his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, saying the American people are “strong”. He adds: “It’s never been a good bet to count us out.”

Biden is aiming to pass legislation to give “families and seniors just a little more breathing room”, he says. Florida has the highest percentage of seniors of any state in the nation, Biden notes, to scattered applause.

The president is speaking in front of a banner that says: “Protect and strengthen Medicare” and “Lowering costs for American families”, as he seeks to draw contrast his vision for Social Security and Medicare with the plans of some Republicans to gut both plans.

The former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said today he is booked in for no less than his 16th meeting with Manhattan prosecutors looking into the hush money payment he made to Stormy Daniels, aka Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actor and director who claims an affair that Donald Trump denies.

Cohen told Meidas Touch he will meet with prosecutors working for the Manhattan DA, Alvin Bragg, next week, having been in to see them for a 15th time this week.

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016, as Trump campaigned for president. The payment (which Trump reimbursed) and its violation of campaign finance law played a part in Cohen being sent to jail. Trump has not been charged.

The payment has come back to the fore in Bragg’s investigation of Trump, with a grand jury reportedly hearing evidence. It has also been part of a rumbling confrontation between Bragg and Mark Pomerantz, a prosecutor who resigned from the Manhattan Trump investigation last year, in protest at what he saw as Bragg’s reluctance to indict Trump, and who has now published a book.

In People vs Donald Trump, Pomerantz says the Daniels payment became a “zombie case”, forever coming back from the dead as a way to indict the former president. He also says that he thinks Trump should be indicted in relation to more serious tax and fraud allegations.

Cohen turned on Trump and has co-operated extensively with authorities investigating the former president.

Yesterday, Cohen told MSNBC he found Bragg’s team to be “really well-versed in all aspects of this case. I’m actually impressed with how quickly they all came up to speed … they’re very knowledgeable about all the facts, all the testimony so far that’s been provided”.

Further reading:

Angie Craig, a Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota, was assaulted in her DC apartment building this morning, her chief of staff said.

“Rep Craig defended herself from the attacker and suffered bruising, but is otherwise physically okay,” Nick Coe said in a statement.

Coe said Craig called 911 and the attacker fled the scene. He said there was “no evidence” that the incident was politically motivated.

Craig was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018. She became the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Minnesota.