OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Barack Obama is once again stepping in to help President Biden secure votes and money as his campaign for the White House nears its end.
Obama will be making a second appearance in Biden’s rematch with former President Trump. Obama’s fame and standing among Democratic donors have helped Biden’s finances and public image at a time when the president is facing more questions about his record, plans, and mental health.
“I take great pride in what the Biden administration has accomplished,” Obama said during a recent event with Biden and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. “And it’s a reminder that we don’t have to just vote against something in this election. We have someone to worry about. And there’s a whole agenda that we should be concerned about.”
He continued, “But we can take pride in affirming the extraordinary work that Joe has done. And we want to make sure that we build on that and then pass it on to the next president rather than have a president who wants to reverse the progress that has been made.”
Fox News reported: “Obama’s comments were part of a ritzy fundraising event at which the Biden campaign pulled in a whopping $30 million as Hollywood stars such as George Clooney and Julia Roberts took the stage in support of the 46th president. The dollar total shattered previous Democratic fundraising records. Biden is gearing up for a difficult rematch against Trump this year, with polling showing Biden with a two-point advantage over Trump, which is well within the margin of error.”
The outlet added: “Biden said in April last year that he’d ‘finish the job’ and run for re-election, and the announcement was soon followed by a series of high-profile fundraising events with Hollywood stars, elites at the highest echelons of American society and industry, and notably Obama.”
This month, Obama’s visit in Los Angeles wasn’t the first time that his presence helped Biden get millions of dollars.
In March, Biden joined the 44th president and former President Bill Clinton at Radio City Music Hall in New York for another star-studded benefit. This time, actress Mindy Kaling was in charge of the event. Late-night host Stephen Colbert led a talk with Biden, Obama, and Clinton at the event. Queen Latifah, Lizzo, and Ben Platt were among the special guests.
The campaign said at the time that the event brought in more than $26 million.
Several news outlets say that Obama and Biden have also made campaign movies together and talked about how the campaign will be set up for 2024.
Obama’s efforts to raise money in 2024 are similar to what he did to help Biden in 2020. For example, they held a $11 million gathering together, which was the first time they had done something like this since Obama was president. Before the election, Obama went on the campaign trail to back Biden. During this time, he said some very harsh things about Trump.
“Trump cares about feeding his ego. Joe cares about keeping you and your family safe,” Obama said in Flint, Michigan, just days before the 2020 election.
Obama added, “He’s still worried about his inauguration crowd being smaller than mine. It really bugs him. He’s still talking about that. Does he have nothing better to worry about? Did no one come to his birthday party as a kid? Was he traumatized?”
Biden’s turning to Hollywood comes as Trump’s campaign has raised a staggering $200 million since the former president was found guilty of 34 felonies last week, the Daily Mail reported.
Eric, who is married to Lara Trump, the Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), stated that she had informed him that the amount consisted of over $70 million raised from small donors in the three days following his father’s conviction on 34 felonies related to falsifying business records.
“This might be a little inside information, but as I was leaving my house about 37 seconds ago, I asked my wife, what are we up to now?” Eric Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo.
“And [Lara] said, just in terms of small dollar, we’re well over $70 million. This is $21 donations, $43 donations, right, small dollar donations. If you add the large dollar donations to it, you’re over $200 million. And by the way, Maria 30 percent of those people have never been seen before by a political party,” Eric Trump declared.
“I mean, these are Americans who are pissed off. They’re coming out of the woodwork and want to support a guy that they just believe is getting bamboozled by a system,” he added.
Eric Trump announced on social media that the campaign had received $52.8 million in donations within 24 hours of the hush money trial verdict.
One day later, this amount increased to over $200 million, with a single major donation playing a significant role. He attributed the surge in campaign funds to the outcome of the hush money trial.
WATCH:
Today exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, Trump Organization Executive Vice President @EricTrump spoke about the surge in donations to his father’s campaign following the verdict in New York.@FoxNews pic.twitter.com/WTOMfqRMZm
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) June 2, 2024
