President Joe Biden will be raising campaign cash in San Francisco on Wednesday while seven GOP Republican presidential hopefuls hold a debate down the coast in Simi Valley. Biden isn’t paying them much attention because he's already zeroing in on Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner who won't be on the stage.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden is already zeroing in on former President Donald Trump as his likely opponent in next year's election, a rematch of the 2020 race that won him the White House   

  • Biden has been increasingly calling out Trump by name and referring to him as his “likely opponent” in 2024 and warning of what the Democratic incumbent sees as major dangers to the nation if he is not reelected

  • Hours before the second Republican presidential debate was set to begin, and Trump was set to travel to Michigan to speak to autoworkers, Biden's reelection campaign took aim directly at Trump with a new ad campaign aimed at contrasting their economic policies

  • Biden will be raising campaign cash in San Francisco on Wednesday while seven GOP Republican presidential hopefuls hold a debate down the coast in Simi Valley; he will then travel to Arizona to pay tribute to the late Sen. John McCain and give a democracy-focused address on Thursday

Biden has been increasingly calling out Trump by name and referring to him as his “likely opponent” in 2024, signaling a likely rematch from four years earlier and warning of what the Democratic incumbent sees as major dangers to the nation if he is not reelected.

”Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy this democracy," Biden said Tuesday night during a California fundraiser, referring to a Trump campaign slogan, as he skipped entirely over Trump's GOP rivals.

Biden's trip to the West this week is counterprogramming of sorts as a government shutdown looms, House Republicans launch impeachment hearings, the Republican debate unfolds and Trump makes a campaign stop in Michigan to court autoworkers -- one day after the president made history by joining striking workers on the picket line.

Hours before the second Republican presidential debate was set to begin, Biden's reelection campaign took aim directly at Trump with a new ad campaign. Called "Delivers," the ad focuses on what the campaign says are the former president's economic promises and policies and contrasts it with the Democratic president's record, including job growth in domestic manufacturing and lowering costs for families.

The ad features Trump driving around on a golf cart and appearing on a golf course while a narrator says that the 45th president "passed tax breaks for his rich friends while auto makers shuttered their plants and Michigan lost manufacturing jobs."

"Joe Biden said he'd stand up for workers, and he's delivering," the narrator says. "Passing laws that are increasing wages and creating good-paying jobs.

"Manufacturing is coming back to Michigan because Joe Biden doesn’t just talk, he delivers," the narrator continues.

“More empty promises in Michigan or anywhere else can’t erase Donald Trump’s egregious failures and broken promises to America’s workers,”  Kevin Munoz, Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Spokesperson, said in a statement. “He can’t hide his anti-labor, anti-jobs record from the countless American workers he’s let down. This election will be a choice between President Biden’s real advocacy for working Americans and a rerun of billionaire Donald Trump’s broken promises to the middle class.” 

Biden is drawing a contrast with the GOP logjams in Congress, seeking to showcase what he is getting done and trying to make the case that will continue as long as he wins a second term.

“I’m running because important freedoms we have now are at stake,” Biden told supporters. “The right to choose. The right to vote. The right to be who you are, love who you love. They’re being attacked and being shredded right now.”

Earlier Tuesday, Biden became the first modern president to walk a picket line when he joined UAW members in the Detroit area. The union has expanded its strike against Detroit automakers by walking out of spare-parts warehouses in 20 states.

Biden met with the science and technology advisers on Wednesday to discuss artificial intelligence, vaccine misinformation and other concerns. He said he did not think a government shutdown was unavoidable.

“I don’t think anything is inevitable when it comes to politics,” the president said. When asked what could be done to avoid it, he said, “If I knew that I would have done it already.”

Before he heading to Phoenix in the evening, Biden will have headlined three Northern California fundraisers. In Arizona, a critical swing state he won in 2020, Biden will pay tribute to the late Sen. John McCain, a longtime friend, and give a democracy-focused address on Thursday.

Trump is scheduled to deliver prime-time remarks to union members in Michigan shortly before the second debate of the primary season gets underway without him.

Trump is facing multiple criminal indictments, including charges related to the Republican's role in seeking to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Biden. Nonetheless, Trump is the most popular choice among Republicans at this point for the party's White House nomination.

Nearly two-thirds of Republicans — 63% — now say they want him to run again, according a poll last month from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s up slightly from the 55% who said the same in April when Trump began facing a series of criminal charges.

While 74% of Republicans say they would support Trump in November 2024, 53% of those in the survey say they would definitely not support him if he is the nominee. An additional 11% say they would probably not support him.

Biden doesn't fare much better, with 26% overall wanting to see him run again, with 47% of Democrats saying they want him to run, compared with 37% in January.