In his first 100 days, Trump still leans on an old foe: Joe Biden

America may be well on its way to forgetting Joe Biden; Donald Trump is not.

WASHINGTON — America may be well on its way to forgetting Joe Biden; its president isn’t. 

Donald Trump spoke Biden’s name more than a dozen times Jan. 20, day one of his second presidency, and from that point forward, he has basically never stopped. 

As he nears the 100th day of his term, Trump has invoked his predecessor with a persistence that suggests the two are in the final throes of a bitter campaign. They aren’t and won’t ever be again: Biden pulled his name off the 2024 ballot and left elective office for good. But for Trump there is a certain political upside in making Biden a perpetual bogeyman. 

Mentioning Biden reminds voters that not so long ago, they were unhappy enough with high prices and illegal border crossings that they repudiated him and his hand-picked successor, Kamala Harris. Biden may also be a useful diversion from the whiplash of Trump’s term, shifting attention to the aged ex-president who struggled through speeches and looked unsteady on his feet.   

As children pushed their pink and yellow eggs at the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll on Monday, Trump mingled with the crowd and mocked Biden over an incident that many may have forgotten, if they were ever aware of it at all. Three years ago, Biden hosted the Easter Egg Roll and was redirected at one point by an aide dressed in a bunny costume.