The US president attacks Republican Donald Trump before the anniversary of the storming of the Capitol. However, he described the US as a “failed” nation.
US President Joe Biden began the hot phase of the election campaign with a scathing attack on Republican Donald Trump. Trump was willing to “sacrifice our democracy” to return to power, Biden said in a speech in the state of Pennsylvania on Friday. On the eve of the third anniversary of the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, the Democrat accused his predecessor of wanting to “steal history” with lies.
“We all know who Donald Trump is,” Biden said. “The question is: who are we?” There was no statement from Trump. Shortly before the speech, his campaign team released an ad calling Biden “the true destroyer of democracy”.
Biden accused Trump of running a re-election campaign aimed at exacting “revenge and retaliation” against political opponents. The Republican called his opponents “worms”, “exactly the same language used in Nazi Germany”. Biden said, almost in a whisper: “How dare he? Who in God's name does he think he is?
Anniversary of the storming of the Capitol
Democrats have been warning for months that the United States would slide into autocracy if Trump were re-elected. In early December he said he wanted to act like a dictator on the “first day” after his re-election. He also stated that he will investigate, arrest and take other action against his political opponents.
Biden was originally scheduled to give his speech on Saturday, the true anniversary of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. However, the date was brought forward due to an approaching storm.
In recent months, Biden has repeatedly referred to the danger that, according to his representation, Trump poses to US democracy. Trump and his lawyers have rejected the accusation of an insurrection against the United States. His statements on January 6, 2021 were covered by freedom of expression. No charges were filed against Trump for “insurrection,” that is, a revolt within the meaning of the Constitution. The businessman described several accusations against him as part of a political conspiracy.
Biden's campaign team has indicated that it will associate the warning of a threat to democracy with everyday issues in the US, such as employment and inflation, but also armed violence, healthcare and abortion. A Portal/Ipsos survey carried out in mid-December confirmed the importance of these issues for voters: nine in ten respondents said that the economy would be important for their voting behavior. About 45% of respondents said Trump had a better approach to the economy, while 33% said Biden.
Trump also attacked Biden
Meanwhile, Trump harshly attacked Biden. “Nothing has improved under the government of corrupt Joe Biden. It’s all a mess,” Trump told several hundred supporters at the rally in rural northwest Iowa. In his speech, however, he only briefly discussed the events of January 6th. Instead, he repeated the baseless claim that the 2020 election campaign was tainted by widespread voter fraud.
Donald Trump in Iowa. APA/AFP/Christian Monterrosa
In his speech, 10 days before the first round of the Republican primaries, the former president painted a dark picture of the United States. He described the US as a “failed” nation, plagued by “terrorists” and “hospice” immigrants who come to the US across the border with Mexico. He joked about an earlier comment in which he said he would be a dictator on the first day of his presidency. However, he did not explicitly withdraw this remark.
Ten months before the election, the two candidates are actually neck and neck: Trump leads Biden 38% to 36% in the latest Portal/Ipsos poll. However, the remaining 26 percent were undecided. (APA)