Joe Biden launched a frontal attack on his rival Donald Trump on Friday, accusing him of using the rhetoric of Nazi Germany in a major speech designed to give momentum to his campaign for November's presidential election.
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Almost three years to the day after the attack on the Capitol, the Democratic president presented the election as a choice between a man “obsessed by the past” and pursuing his own interests (Donald Trump) and another, “America.” “The future” (itself) doesn’t matter.
Donald Trump, a big Republican favorite, “is willing to sacrifice our democracy to gain power,” criticized Joe Biden near Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, a historic site of the American Revolutionary War.
“He talks about the blood of Americans being poisoned (by migrants, editor's note) and uses exactly the same language as in Nazi Germany,” continued the 81-year-old Mr. Biden, the head of the debate at or just behind Donald Trump in the polls.
The president was scheduled to deliver his speech on Saturday, just three years after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump who sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory; However, due to a storm forecast, the date was brought forward to Friday.
“Holy thing”
Offensively, Joe Biden spoke at length Friday about the violence of Jan. 6, “a day forever etched in our minds because it was that day when we almost lost America.”
The attack on the Capitol remains controversial in the United States: A quarter of Americans believe, without evidence, that the FBI was behind it, according to a Washington Post and University of Maryland poll released this week.
Hence the fact that “the most pressing question of our time is whether democracy is still America's sacred cause,” he said. “That’s what the 2024 election is about.”
“Trump and his MAGA supporters (“Make America Great Again,” the Republican billionaire’s flagship slogan) not only tolerate political violence, they laugh at it,” denounced Joe Biden.
A Trump spokesman, Steven Cheung, immediately responded that Mr. Biden was “the real threat to democracy.” He accused him of “using the government as a weapon to attack his main political opponent” and interfering in the election, citing the numerous cases surrounding Mr. Trump in court.
And during a meeting in Iowa, Donald Trump accused his Democratic rival of “stoking fears” and called the current president's campaign rally “pathetic.”
During his last election campaign in 2020, Joe Biden described his duel with Donald Trump as a “battle for the soul of America”.
The location that the Democrat chose for his speech is symbolic: Valley Forge is where George Washington, the future first President of the United States, gathered the American forces that fought against the British Empire almost 250 years ago.
“We chose Valley Forge because George Washington united the colonies there,” said Quentin Fulks, Mr. Biden’s deputy campaign manager. “Then he became president and laid the foundation for the peaceful transition of power – something that Donald Trump and the Republicans rejected.”
Thorns in the foot
The Republican real estate mogul still claims, without a shred of evidence, that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.
“Let’s be clear about the 2020 election (…). “I won the election, he was the loser,” said Joe Biden to applause and presented himself as the guardian of American democracy.
“We all know who Donald Trump is. The question we have to answer is who we are!” he said, urging voters to mobilize.
This boost for Joe Biden's campaign comes after criticism from some Democrats who believe he has been weak so far.
The president is still struggling to convince voters that the economy is recovering, even though jobs numbers were better than expected on Friday.
Other thorns in his side: immigration and the Mexican border conundrum, support for Israel's war against Hamas that divides his party, or even Congress blocking his request for additional funding from Ukraine.
Joe Biden's refusal to mention the numerous lawsuits against Donald Trump also deprived him of one of his most important weapons against the Republican billionaire.
But Joe Biden's first flaw remains his age. He has the worst popularity rating for an incumbent president in the month of December before an election.