President of the United States from 2009 to 2017
Republicans have tried to pull him in, but appear to recognize the difficulty: When GOP presidential candidates vow to end what they derisively call “woke” culture, they often aim their barbs not directly at Biden but at big corporations like Disney and BlackRock or the vast “administrative state” of the federal government.
Much of Biden’s loyalty from LGBTQ Democrats stems from his 2012 endorsement of same-sex marriages when Obama was still officially opposed to them. Biden’s position was seen as politically risky at the time, before the Supreme Court in 2015 recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry, but has evolved into something he bragged about during his 2020 campaign.
During a stop at the Iowa State Fair during his 2020 campaign, a conservative provocateur trailing the Democratic presidential candidates asked Biden, “How many genders are there?”Then, perhaps not realizing that his inquisitor was a right-wing activist, Biden added: “By the way, first one to come out for marriage was me.”
“His background allows him to say things that I think would be heard as more radical if they were said by a younger politician,” she said. At a June rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, DeSantis described being approached by military veterans who don’t want their children and grandchildren joining the armed forces because of liberal policy changes instituted by Democrats — though the governor blamed Obama as much as he did Biden.