An enthusiastic crowd chanted: "Don't you quit" at a Michigan rally Friday night to beleaguered Joe Biden who has been inundated with calls to drop out of the presidential campaign following his troubling debate performance against Donald Trump.
"I'm not going anywhere," Biden responded to cheers in a high school gym in Detroit where backer waved "Motown is Joetown."
"I am running and we're going to win," he added.
Biden went on the attack against Trump, criticizing him for his links to the controversial Project 2025 plan for his administration created by right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation.
"Project 2025 is the biggest attack on our system of government and our personal freedom that has ever been proposed to this country," Biden said, pointing out its aims to criminalize the shipment of abortion medication, deny contraceptive coverage, make cuts to Medicare and eliminate the Department of Education.
"We've never seen anything like this," he emphasized. "It's not a joke. It's time for us to stop treating politics like entertainment and reality TV. Another four years of Donald Trump is deadly serious. Deadly serious."
Biden also called Trump a "loser," who, despite his persona on the reality TV show "The Apprentice," leaves a string of failed businesses in his wake.
"He inherited millions of dollars only to squander it. He's filed for bankruptcy six times," said Biden.
"He even went bankrupt running a casino. I didn't think that was even possible," he added, referring to the failure of Trump's Taj Mahal operation in Las Vegas. "Doesn't the house always win in a casino?"
OMG, the young crowd in Detroit, MI cheered President Biden for a long time before chanting nonstop "DON'T YOU QUIT!"
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) July 12, 2024
Chills. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/yXacBEGqZR
The president outlined his plans for a second term, including passage of laws protecting women's abortion rights, raising the minimum wage and banning assault weapons.
The rally reception was a dramatic contrast to complaints and demands he step out of the presidential race after Biden's stumbling performance at the debate and continued gaffes which have raised concerns about the president's competence.
Twenty Democrats in Congress have pressed him to drop the campaign to make way for a new candidate, as have newspaper editorial boards and long-time supporters like actor George Clooney.
Biden has vowed he is in the race to "the end."
