(Washington) After her disastrous debate against Donald Trump, she was there to support him, and the next day she was by Joe Biden’s side when he vowed to “fight” again: Jill Biden is more than ever. Her husband’s campaign line.
“His opinion is certainly more important than anything else (for the US president). Without his support, he cannot stay in the race,” Boston University communications professor Tammy Vigil told AFP.
Monday, magazine Vogue unveiled the cover of its August issue: Jill Biden in a long white silk blazer by Ralph Lauren.
The photo is from late April, and is based on interviews and reports conducted during this period, before Joe Biden went live on CNN against his Republican rival.
But on the note of introducing the article, the editorial staff Vogue The 81-year-old’s phone call with the first lady came shortly after the debate, amid mounting calls for the Democrat to withdraw the nomination.
“The Right Person”
The 73-year-old university professor said, “He should be allowed 90 minutes to summarize what he has done as president for four years.
On Saturday, the man who shared the life of the US president for 47 years said: “Joe is not only the right person to do this job. He is the same person. ”
At the end of the debate Thursday, the first lady held her husband’s hand as she struggled down a few steps to the CNN studios.
Photo by Gerald Herbert, Associated Press Archives
First Lady Jill Biden stands with President Joe Biden following a presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.
On Friday, she appeared at a rally in North Carolina with a re-energized Joe Biden wearing an outfit that read “Vote.”
When she married Joe Biden in 1977, the latter was a widow after a car accident had claimed the lives of his first wife and their infant daughter five years earlier, and two boys, Beau and Hunter, survived.
Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015. Hunter Biden struggled with crack addiction for years.
In this vetted family, the first lady is the center of gravity today, and it is clear that without her support, the Democratic Party would not have begun its quest for a second term.
Once in the White House, she went on to teach English at a university near Washington, which was unheard of for a president’s wife.
“Mistreatment”
For the rest, she slips into the monotonous and relatively self-effacing role of First Lady, responsible for Christmas decorations and the menu of gala dinners and consensus causes.
“A first lady today has to be a ‘not-so-secret weapon,’ helping to raise funds for her husband’s personality. So we expect Jill Biden to participate in the campaign,” Tommy Vigil explains.
“But there are hidden limits to this activity, which appear as soon as the red line is crossed. If she defends her husband too actively, she will be criticized,” assures the educator.
On social networks, the first lady has been a favorite target for some supporters of Donald Trump since the debate, portraying her as an unscrupulous manipulator.
“What Jill Biden and the campaign team did tonight […]This is elder abuse,” Harriet Hageman, a conservative elected official from Wyoming, responded in a message on X on Thursday evening.
But as evidenced by this angry comment about X by former hedge fund manager and Democratic donor Whitney Tilson, the criticism isn’t just coming from the right.
“Today, the sentiment is almost universal among the most loyal Democrats [comme moi] It was Biden and his inner circle [à commencer par Jill] They try to us [faire croire que le président américain] It’s better if it’s clear he’s not,” he wrote on Monday.
