Blood red lighting, marines in uniform and one of the darkest speeches of his presidency. Joe Biden, in a rare direct attack on his Republican predecessor, on Thursday denounced the “extremism” of Donald Trump and his supporters, accusing them of shaking the “very foundations” of American democracy, in the city that was the cradle.
In Philadelphia (east), he proclaimed: “Donald Trump and the ”MAGA Republicans” represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic”. The former president, and those who subscribe to his “Make America Great Again” ideology, “do not respect the Constitution. They don’t believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people” hammered the Democratic president, in a speech that the White House had promised “major”.
Duel against Donald Trump in sight in 2024
The Democrat, who held his first presidential candidate meeting in Philadelphia, also knows that the state where the city is located, Pennsylvania, may hold the key to the November legislative elections. And therefore the rest of his mandate.
All the speech of the leader of the democrats showed his will to dramatize this poll, traditionally unfavorable to the party which holds the White Houseto make it neither more nor less than a referendum on Donald Trump.
Representatives of the radical right “applaud the anger. They feed on chaos. They do not live in the light of the truth, but in the shadow of lies, ”said the 79-year-old president, who wants to galvanize the Democratic electorate and convince the undecided.
« Fuck Joe Biden »
Joe Biden had already sung during his campaign the refrain on the “battle” to be waged for “the soul of America”, but on a softer tune: that of reconciliation and calls for unity.
For a long time, this former senator, a veteran of politics, sang of the virtues of cooperation with Republicans of good will. Nothing like Thursday night.
“Not all Republicans adhere to this extreme ideology”, he certainly admitted, but to better shoot this arrow afterwards: “There is no doubt that the Republican Party today is dominated, trained and bullied by Donald Trump” and his supporters.
Denouncing the billionaire’s persistent and unfounded attacks on the validity of the 2024 election, Joe Biden said: “You can’t love your country only when you win”.
While Donald Trump promised on Thursday to pardon if re-elected those convicted of the January 6, 2021 Capitol storming, the Democratic president said there was “no room for political violence in the United States. UNITED STATES “, and considered that contesting a ballot led to “chaos”.
When during his speech, a group of opponents gathered nearby launched in chorus “Fuck Joe Biden”, he retorted: “They have the right to be indignant. It is democracy. »
Democrats dream of a feat in November
According to a poll released Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, if the midterm legislative elections were held today, 47% of voters would vote Democrat, and 44% Republican. The right still had a 5-point lead in March.
The Democrats begin to dream of a feat during this election which renews the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. Opinion polls are not infallible and, in American political life, two months is an eternity.
But the political debate has shifted since the beginning of the summer, abandoning economic subjects to come to the field of the right to abortion, societal achievements, concerns about democracy – all promising themes for the Democrats. .
In their first reactions Thursday, the Republicans have also tried to return to issues that are more favorable to them. “All is well for the soul of America. Americans are suffering because of your policy. Creeping inflation. Crime out of control. The rise of terrorism. Borders destroyed. Stop your sermons, ”responded Senator Lindsey Graham, loyal among Donald Trump’s faithful, to the address of Joe Biden.