President Biden on Monday bashed former President Trump to mark Labor Day, criticizing jobs and benefits under the previous administration.
“The guy who held this job before me was just one of two presidents in history … left office with fewer jobs in America than when he got elected office,” Biden said at the annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade in Philadelphia.
“When the last guy was here, you were shipping jobs to China. Now we’re bringing jobs home from China,” Biden said. “When the last guy was here, your pensions were at risk; we helped save millions of pensions with your help.”
“When the last guy was here, he looked at the world from Park Avenue. I look at it from Scranton, Penn., I look at it from Claymont, Del. Not a joke,” he said.
The remarks in front of members of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 19 felt like a campaign speech, with Biden pacing the stage with the microphone behind signs that read “union strong.” He was surrounded by attendees holding signs with “union strong” and “USA.”
His remarks follow Friday’s jobs report that found the U.S. added 187,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent.
“Even with what we’ve done — unlike the last president — in my first two years, all this stuff, guess what? I cut the deficit $1.7 trillion. Cut the debt $1.7 trillion,” Biden said. “One of the ways I was able to invest in you and still bring down the deficit was I started making people pay their fair share.”
He said more than a thousand billionaires in the U.S. pay 8 percent in federal taxes, which is a lower rate than “probably anyone in this parking lot” at the parade.
“You pay enough. It’s time for big corporations and the very wealthy to start paying their fair share,” he said.
Biden also addressed his age, saying he brings wisdom to the job. Biden, 80, is already the oldest person to serve as president, and he would be 86 at the end of his second term.
“I’ll tell you what, someone said you know, that Biden he’s getting old, man,” the president said. “The only thing that comes with age is a little bit of wisdom. I’ve been doing this longer than anybody, and guess what? I’m going to continue to do it with your help.”
Trump, 77, is polling double-digits ahead of other GOP rivals despite multiple legal battles across the country. With Trump and Biden the favorites for their parties’ presidential nominations in 2024, they are setting up a possible rematch of the 2020 election.
Biden also took shots at Trump on Friday to hail the jobs report, calling out the job growth under his predecessor.
The president often says he is the most pro-union president in history, and in Philadelphia, he declared that again to the group of supporters.
“I’m proud to say union. I’m proud to be the most pro-union president, according to the experts, in American history,” he said. He added that he’s been referred to as “middle-class Joe” throughout his political career.
He also re-upped his calls for Congress to pass the PRO Act, sweeping legislation that would stiffen penalties for employers who violate workers’ rights and strengthen protections for employees against retaliation.
Biden traveled to Philadelphia from his beach house in Rehoboth, Del., following accusations that he is on vacation while he is at that home. He told reporters his main residence in Wilmington, Del., is undergoing renovation to “make it secure,” adding he is “not on vacation.”