(Washington) Joe Biden raised “more than 15 million” dollars this weekend for his re-election campaign, from wealthy donors in Los Angeles, a source close to the matter told AFP on Monday.
According to certain press articles, never before has a president or a presidential candidate raised so much money in a single visit to the cinema metropolis, traditionally generous to Democratic candidates.
The American president increased the number of meetings between Friday evening and Saturday evening.
If certain meetings in vast mansions in the hills surrounding Los Angeles remained strictly confidential, journalists had access to two receptions intended to raise funds for the 81-year-old Democrat, who boasted of his record, but above all indulged to a full-blown attack on former President Donald Trump.
Friday evening, in the vast interior courtyard of a villa with clean lines, in particular in front of the filmmaker Steven Spielberg, and before a private concert by Lenny Kravitz, Joe Biden launched: “The greatest threat that Trump represents is against our democracy, because if we lose that, we lose everything. »
“He encourages political violence instead of rejecting it. We cannot allow this to happen,” he warned, referring to a possible Republican victory in the next presidential election.
He renewed his warning the next day, in another opulent residence, the real estate value of which is estimated at some $50 million.
“After being an emblem of freedom and equality for the entire world, I cannot believe this nation will turn to Trump for its 250e anniversary,” he said in reference to the upcoming anniversary of the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
Joe Biden has long been reluctant to attack head-on or even name his predecessor, whom he has every chance of confronting again next November.
But the Democrat, faced with poor polls and unable to translate his solid economic record into political capital, is now much more direct.
The 2024 campaign promises to be the most expensive in the history of the United States, a country accustomed to spending astronomical sums on such occasions.
According to a forecast from the GroupM agency, published by the Axios website, some $16 billion could be spent on political advertising in the broad sense, mainly on television and on the internet. This would represent a jump of more than 30% compared to 2020.