(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans” who follow him of assaulting the foundations of US democracy and urged Americans to reject any candidate backed by his predecessor in the November election that will decide control of Congress.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans” who follow him of assaulting the foundations of US democracy and urged Americans to reject any candidate backed by his predecessor in the November election that will decide control of Congress.
“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic,” Biden said Thursday in a prime-time speech from Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, the site of the signing of the US Constitution.
“They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies.”
The speech, which the White House had billed as crystallizing the “battle for the soul of the nation,” highlighted the president’s shift to campaign mode two months out from the November midterm elections that will determine whether Democrats can retain their slim House and Senate majorities.
Biden condemned “talk about violence as an acceptable political tool, adding, “I want to say this plain and simple, there is no place for political violence in America.”
The president has escalated attacks on congressional Republicans and supporters of Trump in recent days, accusing them of seeking to undermine the country’s democratic institutions, sow doubts about the election process, and push policies at odds with American voters.
Biden has hammered GOP efforts to heavily restrict abortion access after the Supreme Court in June overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, and party leaders’ opposition to banning assault weapons — as well as the lack of a single Republican vote in Congress for Democrats’ health care, tax and climate package.
Those speeches have offered a preview of Biden’s midterm message: He’s seeking to present himself as a centrist alternative to Trump and Republican policies and pivot away from questions about the complicated state of the economy.
Republicans have hit back at Biden’s rhetoric. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy delivered the Republican response to the speech before Biden had given it. McCarthy also laid claim to fighting for the “soul of America,” criticizing Biden on inflation and border security, along with hot-button culture war issues, such as rules for transgender athletes.
He also shot back at Biden’s recent remark likening the views of the staunch, Trump-backing Republican cohort to “semi-fascism,” accusing the president of slandering all GOP voters.
“The first lines out of his mouth should be to apologize for slandering tens of millions of Americans as fascists,” McCarthy said. “This is a national referendum — a referendum on inflation, illegal immigration, indoctrination and crime at home and humiliation abroad.”
Trump, meanwhile, has stood by his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and attacked law enforcement officers in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying the results of the 2020 election.
The former president said earlier Thursday he would issue full pardons and an official apology to people convicted of crimes during the insurrection, moves that could only happen if he becomes president again, adding that he has met with and financially supported some of the defendants.
“What they’ve done to these people is disgraceful,” Trump said in an interview with a conservative radio host.
Biden and congressional Democrats are coming off a series of legislative and policy victories; improved data on inflation; and polls showing the president’s standing with the public improving.
Biden spoke at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in suburban Maryland last week, and his speech Thursday was his second visit to the battleground state of Pennsylvania this week. During a Tuesday trip to Wilkes-Barre, he called attacks on the FBI for its role in the search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence “sickening.”
Pennsylvania is holding a number of high-profile election contests, including the open Senate seat race that is pitting Republican Mehmet Oz against the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, John Fetterman. Trump will visit Pennsylvania this weekend for a rally alongside Oz and Doug Mastriano, the Republican gubernatorial candidate.
The Labor Day holiday will take Biden to more midterm battlegrounds, with a return visit to Pennsylvania, as well as a stop in Wisconsin. He is also headed to Ohio next week for the groundbreaking at an Intel Corp. plant in the state.
In his appearances, Biden has appeared buoyed and energized by his recent wins. A Gallup poll last week found that 44% of Americans now approve of him, up from a low of 38% in July. Still, Biden remains underwater, with 53% of Americans disapproving of his job performance.
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