2020 Democrats challenge Biden's call for calm at California gathering


Several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates took advantage of early front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden's absence from a California state party gathering on Saturday evening.
Biden was reportedly the only prominent candidate not in attendance, as he was campaigning in Ohio on Saturday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of 14 candidates at the event, seemingly took a jab at the former vice president who had previously preached calm in the Democratic Party and said once President Trump is out of office, the GOP may have an "epiphany," leading them to embrace bipartisanship. "Some say if we all just calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses," Warren said. "But this country is in crisis. The time for small ideas is over." South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg was less direct than Warren, but also said "the riskiest thing we can do is play it safe."
Despite the veiled Biden criticism, most of the candidates united against President Trump, agreeing that the ultimate goal is driving him out of the Oval Office, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations