Biden, Joseph R Jr

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      From Tips to TikTok, Trump Discards Policies With Aim to Please Voters

      by

      The former president’s economic agenda has made some notable reversals from the policies he pushed while in the White House.At his convention speech last month, former President Donald J. Trump declared that his new economic agenda would be built around a plan to eliminate taxes on tips, claiming that the idea would uplift the middle class and provide relief to hospitality workers around the country.“Everybody loves it,” Mr. Trump said to cheers. “Waitresses and caddies and drivers.”While the cost and feasibility of the idea has been questioned by economists and tax analysts, labor experts have noted another irony: As president, Mr. Trump tried to take tips away from workers and give the money to their employers.The reversal is one of many that Mr. Trump has made in his bid to return to the presidency and underscores his malleability in election-year policymaking. From TikTok to cryptocurrencies, the former president has been reinventing his platform on the fly as he aims to attract different swaths of voters. At times, Mr. Trump appears to be staking out new positions to differentiate himself from Ms. Harris or, perhaps, just to please crowds.To close observers of the machinations of Mr. Trump’s first term, the shift on tips, a policy that has become a regular part of his stump speech, has been particularly striking.“Trump is posing as a champion of tipped restaurant workers with his no-tax-on-tips proposal, but his actual record has been to slash protections for tipped workers at a time when they were struggling with a high cost of living,” said Paul Sonn, the director of National Employment Law Project Action, which promotes workers’ rights.In 2017, Mr. Trump’s Labor Department proposed changing federal regulations to allow employers to collect tips that their workers receive and use them for essentially any purpose as long as the workers were paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. In theory, the flexibility would make it possible for restaurant owners to ensure that cooks and dishwashers received part of a pool of tip money, but in practice employers could pocket the tips and spend them at their discretion.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Los fans de Taylor Swift ansían su respaldo a una candidatura presidencial

      by

      La cantante dio su codiciado apoyo al presidente Joe Biden en 2020. Ahora, una silueta en una foto de Instagram ha llevado a algunos swifties a especular que defenderá a Kamala Harris.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]¿Están solo viendo cosas o la silueta de una bailarina de apoyo de Taylor Swift se parece a la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris?El ejército de fans de Swift en internet por lo general trata de descifrar los mensajes ocultos de la estrella del pop como un trabajo a tiempo parcial, por lo que la especulación se extendió cuando algunos sugirieron que una foto que Swift había publicado en Instagram de su Eras Tour, que ha estado recorriendo Europa este verano, podría ser una pista de su apoyo a una determinada candidatura presidencial.Sin embargo, no ha habido ningún respaldo por parte de Swift, quien ha puesto cada vez más su enorme influencia al servicio de la política progresista. En octubre de 2020, su declaración de apoyo a Joe Biden no dejó nada a la interpretación.La foto en cuestión, que Swift incluyó en una publicación sobre sus recientes conciertos en Varsovia, coincide con una transición estándar de la gira en la que sus bailarines de apoyo —con trajes de pantalón no muy diferentes de los que Harris prefiere— desfilan fuera del escenario entre canciones.A pesar de los argumentos en contra, algunos swifties estaban convencidos de que la publicación era un mensaje en clave. Un segmento liberal del público está ansioso por que la cantante dé a conocer sus lealtades, y la urgencia subraya el poder de Swift como alguien que puede influir en la política electoral con una sola publicación en las redes sociales. (En 2023, una publicación suya en Instagram dio lugar a 35.000 nuevos registros de votantes).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Taylor Swift Fans Crave a Presidential Endorsement

      by

      Taylor Swift’s coveted support went to President Biden in 2020. A shadowy figure in an Instagram photo led some fans to make the leap that she will champion Kamala Harris.Are they just seeing things, or does that silhouette of a Taylor Swift backup dancer resemble Vice President Kamala Harris?The internet army of Swift fans often treats decoding the pop star’s Easter eggs as a part-time job, so speculation spread when some suggested that a photo Ms. Swift had posted to Instagram from her Eras Tour, which has been crisscrossing Europe this summer, could be a hint at support for a certain presidential ticket.And yet, there has been no endorsement from Ms. Swift, who has increasingly thrown her outsize influence behind progressive politics. In October 2020, her pronouncement of support for Joseph R. Biden Jr. did not leave anything up for interpretation.The photo in question, which Ms. Swift included in a post about her recent concerts in Warsaw, aligns with a standard transition from the tour in which her backup dancers — wearing pantsuits not unlike the kind that Ms. Harris happens to favor — strut offstage between songs.Despite the counterarguments, some Swifties were convinced that the post was a coded message. A liberal segment of the fandom is eager for the singer to make her allegiances known, and the leap underscores Ms. Swift’s power as someone who can influence electoral politics in a single social media post. (In 2023, one Instagram post of hers led to 35,000 new voter registrations.)A representative for Ms. Swift did not immediately respond to a question about the fandom’s reaction to the singer’s post.Ms. Swift’s Democratic leanings and her supercharged cultural prominence on N.F.L. broadcasts last season have irritated supporters of the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, some of whom have pushed conspiracy theories that her presence was meant to boost President Biden’s now-scrambled re-election. Ms. Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, named Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota her running mate on Tuesday.The chatter about Ms. Swift’s recent Instagram post revived debate over the role of a pop star in politics.“If we’re going to pay that much money as consumers, you don’t need to serve up politics for that,” Harris Faulkner, the Fox News host, said on television after the speculation about the concert photo swept the internet. “When people pay to see you, just perform.”The Eras Tour has been on its major European leg this summer. On Wednesday, three concerts in Vienna were canceled after Austrian officials announced the arrests of two men whom they accused of plotting a terrorist attack, saying that one of them had focused on several stadium shows Ms. Swift had planned for this week.Ms. Swift had begun to openly flex her electoral influence toward November’s election — but not toward any specific candidate. In March, when Mr. Biden was still at the top of the ticket, Ms. Swift encouraged her millions of Instagram followers to make a plan to vote in the presidential primaries, in a nonpartisan message that urged fans to “vote the people who most represent YOU into power.” More

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Prosecutors Preview Aggressive Strategy in Hunter Biden’s Tax Case

      by

      They stopped short of accusing Mr. Biden of violating foreign lobbying laws but said they would show how foreign interests paid him to influence the government while his father was vice president.Prosecutors signaled in a court filing on Wednesday that they intended to mount an aggressive strategy in Hunter Biden’s tax trial in California, saying they would show how foreign interests paid him to influence the U.S. government while his father was vice president.The special counsel in the case, David C. Weiss, has wrangled for weeks with Mr. Biden’s lawyers over what evidence can be introduced when he is to be tried in September on charges of evading taxes on millions in income from foreign businesses. Already, Mr. Weiss has overseen Mr. Biden’s conviction tied to the purchase of a gun in Delaware in 2018.Mr. Biden’s team had moved to disqualify evidence about his lucrative foreign business activities and lifestyle from a time when he was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol. Mr. Weiss’s deputies rejected those arguments on Wednesday, in a preview of what promises to be a bare-knuckled courtroom strategy.Prosecutors stopped short of accusing Mr. Biden of violating foreign lobbying laws, which are not among the charges for which he faces trial. While they intend to introduce evidence that Mr. Biden and his business partners contacted government officials, they said they did not plan to accuse him of having “improperly coordinated with the Obama administration.”Instead, they plan to cite evidence related to his foreign business dealings to prove how he willfully engaged in a scheme to obtain vast amounts of cash without paying taxes.To that end, prosecutors said they would introduce testimony from an American business associate of Mr. Biden’s to detail a lucrative arrangement with a Romanian real estate magnate who faced corruption charges at home.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares129 Views

      in Elections

      Bob Woodward to Publish ‘War’ This Fall

      by

      Woodward, an author and journalist, has written more than 20 best selling books. His latest will focus on Ukraine, the Middle East, and the battle for the U.S. presidency.The author and journalist Bob Woodward will publish a new book this fall called “War,” his publisher, Simon & Schuster, announced on Wednesday. The book, which will be released on Oct. 15, will focus on Ukraine, the Middle East and the “raw cage-fight of politics” of the 2024 election.“For more than 50 years, Woodward has done groundbreaking reporting on every president, starting with Richard Nixon,” Jonathan Karp, the chief executive of Simon & Schuster and Woodward’s editor, said in a statement. “His work on the power of the presidency is unrivaled. With ‘War,’ Woodward illustrates the dramatic contrast he sees between Donald Trump and his opponents for the presidency — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, making this a must-read before heading to the polls.”Simon & Schuster said Woodward’s new book would offer a behind the scenes look at President Biden’s efforts to manage the war in Ukraine and contain the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, trying to deter the use of nuclear weapons and avoid “a rapid slide into World War III.”Woodward, an associate editor at The Washington Post, has been part of that newsroom for more than 50 years. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes, the first for his coverage of Watergate and the second for coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.Woodward has written more than 20 best selling books, according to the publisher; 15 of them have been No. 1 New York Times best sellers. More

    • 150 Shares109 Views

      in Elections

      Harris and Walz Hold First Rally in Philadelphia: Takeaways From Their Speeches

      by

      A glittering night aimed to energize Democrats and banish the doldrums that have gripped the party.The campaign to defeat former President Donald Trump is going to be fun.That was the message from Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, as they took the stage together for the first time in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The glittering rally was intended to introduce a heretofore obscure Midwestern governor — and hype up Americans for the sprint to November.“So, we’ve got 91 days. My God, that’s easy,” Walz said during a zesty debut in which he marveled at the crowd, joyfully clasped his hands and went for the jugular, at least where Trump and his running mate were concerned. “We’ll sleep when we’re dead.”The night was aimed at electrifying voters and banishing once and for all the doldrums that had gripped the Democratic Party during the doomed re-election effort of President Biden, who was not mentioned by either candidate. But it also highlighted some of the challenges Harris and Walz will face in a race that Trump is still favored to win.Here are five takeaways from a raucous night in Philly.Walz showed why Harris picked himIt was only this morning that the vice president called Walz, 60, and asked him to join her ticket. As he took the stage, it seemed as if he could not quite believe he was there. But after the two shared the spotlight for 50 minutes, their chemistry seemed obvious.“Thank you,” Walz said, directly addressing Harris in the opening moment of his speech, “for bringing back the joy.”Walz, who bowed toward Harris before beginning his speech, came off as delighted to speak on her behalf, with no reservations about playing second fiddle. His oratory never soared, but Harris reacted with obvious delight as he rattled off plain-spoken zingers.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Pelosi Says She Pushed Biden to Step Aside Because of Need to Defeat Trump

      by

      A new book by the former speaker details her clashes with the former president, but it was written before her most recent exercise of political might: helping persuade President Biden to end his re-election bid.To hear Representative Nancy Pelosi tell it, her quiet but firm push to get President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race was a simple matter of the ruthless political math that she has spent decades honing a talent for on Capitol Hill.“My goal is defeat Donald Trump,” Ms. Pelosi, the former speaker, said in a recent interview before the release this week of a book on her years in Congress. “And when you make a decision to defeat somebody, you make every decision in favor of that. You don’t mess around with it, OK? What is in furtherance of reaching that goal? I thought we had to have a better campaign.”The book, titled “The Art of Power,” is Ms. Pelosi’s retelling of major moments of critical decision-making during the Iraq War, a catastrophic financial meltdown, the passage of the Affordable Care Act and multiple clashes with former President Donald J. Trump, among other events.But it may be her most recent deft exercise of political finesse and muscle — one that took place well after the book was written — that will stand as a final testament to Ms. Pelosi’s stature as the Democratic Party’s premiere powerhouse of recent decades. In a formidable display of her enduring clout, she helped persuade the incumbent president to abandon his re-election bid to give her party a better chance of holding the White House in November.Ms. Pelosi plays down her role in nudging Mr. Biden aside and insists the decision was his alone to make. In her focus on polls and fund-raising and in private conversations with the president and rattled Democratic colleagues, she said, she was driven by the single imperative of beating Mr. Trump.The former speaker said she did not initiate calls with colleagues, trying to dispel claims that she had orchestrated the ouster of Mr. Biden, a longtime ally. But if Democrats triumph this fall after staring down the prospect of a resounding defeat, the maneuvering by Ms. Pelosi — along with personal appeals to Mr. Biden from the Democratic congressional leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York — may turn out to be among her most significant acts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Trump cancela el debate en ABC News y propone enfrentar a Harris en Fox News

      by

      Trump dijo en una publicación en redes sociales que el debate presidencial ya pactado quedaba “rescindido” dado que el presidente Joe Biden abandonó la carrera.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]El expresidente Donald Trump dijo a última hora del viernes que se retiraba de un debate de ABC News programado para el 10 de septiembre y presentó una contrapropuesta a la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris, su presunta oponente, para enfrentarse en Fox News seis días antes.El cambio, que Trump anunció en su sitio de redes sociales, Truth Social, suscitó objeciones por parte de la campaña de Harris y pareció poner en duda un posible enfrentamiento entre los rivales.Un funcionario de la campaña de Harris acusó el sábado a Trump de tramar el debate de Fox News para distraer la atención de su incumplimiento al compromiso con el debate de ABC. Trump había aceptado ese debate en mayo, antes de que el presidente Biden abandonara la carrera luego de su calamitosa actuación en un debate de la CNN el 27 de junio.“Donald Trump está asustado y tratando de retirarse del debate que ya había acordado y acude directamente a Fox News para sacarlo de apuros”, dijo Michael Tyler, director de comunicaciones de la campaña de Harris, en un comunicado. “Tiene que dejarse de juegos y presentarse al debate al que ya se comprometió el 10 de septiembre”.Tyler dijo que la campaña de Harris estaba abierta a considerar otros debates si Trump cumplía su compromiso con el debate de ABC.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More