Biden calls Trump a threat to democracy in campaign speech and on anniversary of attack on Capitol

It was also a major intervention, even though the Democrat had announced nine months ago that he would run again and has held some campaign and fundraising events. the starting signal for that election race For the presidential election, everything now indicates that he and Trump will repeat the duel of 2020. A strong and destructive tone condemning the Republican, their actions and plans.

A symbolic environment

Nothing was left to chance except for the storm expected on the coast this weekend, which caused the conversation to be brought forward a day. Biden chose a training center just 15 kilometers from the center Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, one of the iconic places War of Independence. The troops under his command there george washington They endured the winter between 1777 and 1778, and what arrived as a coalition of settler militias emerged as a cohesive, disciplined and reinforced force that managed to seal victory over the British five years later.

Biden’s commitment to the place and the Washington figure that commemorated the January 2021 insurrection and framed his campaign was not accidental. He got his opinion from the first president Democracy as a “sacred cause”. “This “This is not a rhetorical, academic or hypothetical question.”, said. “Whether democracy will remain America’s sacred cause is the most pressing question of our time; “This is what the 2024 elections are about.”

It was an idea he also used in his first campaign ad of the year, properly titled “Why.” In it he warns: “a extremist movement that does not share the core beliefs of our democracy‘ and describes it as ‘dangerous’.

But Washington also served as a contrasting reference for Biden to Trump: someone who gave up command of the military and then voluntarily gave up the presidency after his first two terms, ushering in a new presidential bid. peaceful transition of power This continued into 2020, when the Republican refused to accept the consequences of his defeat and encouraged efforts to overturn the results, which culminated in the attack on the Capitol.

Criticism of Trump and the MAGA movement

Biden spoke directly about what happened on Jan. 6, as his advisers suggested he do and as he has in other speeches in the past that warned of risks to democracy or the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol; Trump and everything that has happened since then played a part in this. happened brutal but I stuck to the data He described the actions of Trump, who hit him with statements known to harm him, as follows:incompetent“.

Beyond these attacks, he warned of the dangers both he and his followers represented: “When the attacks occurred, there was no doubt that they were real. “Even Republican members of Congress and Fox News commentators denounced him publicly and privately,” he recalls, “but as time went on Time, politics and money got in the way. AND MAGA voices abandoned reality and our democracy. They made their choice. And now the rest “Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans, we must take our stand.”.

Biden needs this message to be understood. Despite 14 One of 91 accusations against the former president embers He is linked to attempts to overturn the election, according to a recent poll by ‘The Washington Post’ and the University of Maryland. 25 percent of Americans believe the FBI was behind the attack. Percentage of citizens who believe this Trump was responsible It dropped to 60 percent in two years 53% and stays inside In the case of Republicans, only 14%. And more than 70 percent of conservatives believe it’s time to turn the page on this episode.

The Democrat also has to contend with the strategy Trump uses, where he repeats his own message. Biden “the real destroyer of democracy”” accuses him without any evidence that he stands behind his accusations, thus trying to cancel his main political rival. He even called her a “rebel” after the courts barred her from running in the Colorado primary, a decision she appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Republican, who promised to pardon those convicted of assault if he won and raised alarm bells with his autocratic plans for a second term, plans to make this decision. Two rallies in Iowa this SaturdayThe first caucuses in the Republican primary will be held next Wednesday. He did not predict what he would cover in his campaign speeches.

Other challenges

Biden It faces other challenges that go beyond its potential rival. They approval rates are below 40%The fact that many people question his physical and mental condition and the opportunity to return at the age of 81 does not help citizens perceive the progress in health. economy and sees Disbanded the coalition that brought him to the Oval Officeespecially between youth and minorities for him Positioning regarding Israel’s war in Gaza.

This also explains why he chose his first major speech. PennsylvaniaIt’s an important position he won from Trump in 2020, but he may lose it again in November. And another helps to understand the chosen place for the conversation. Monday. will be in Mother Emanuel Church, in Charleston, South Carolina Where A white supremacist murdered nine black people in 2015 trying to start a race war. He will once again be able to talk about the existential threat that extremism represents to the United States. And he will do it in the state where he announced his candidacy in 2020, where the black vote is dominant and this time the Democrats put him first in the primary election process.

your vice president, Kamala Harris, I wasn’t with him at Valley Forge this Friday. But he also has a campaign event in South Carolina on Saturday. And it will launch a launch later in January “Reproductive Freedoms Tour”Putting the defense of rights such as abortion at the center of the campaign, an issue that is fundamental for Democrats in the 2022 parliamentary elections and will be so in November.