Focusing heavily on the threat he says former U.S. President Donald Trump poses to American democracy, U.S. President Joe Biden kicked off his reelection campaign by pledging to make the defense of the country’s democratic system the central theme of his 2024 race and potential second term.
"Democracy is still a sacred cause, and there’s no country in the world better positioned to lead the world than America," Biden declared in a Friday speech at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, a site with historical significance in America’s war for independence against the British.
Launching the sharpest attacks yet on Trump, his likely rival in the November presidential election, Biden chose the third anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol to deliver his first campaign speech of 2024. The event was originally scheduled for Saturday but moved up because of weather concerns.
Thousands of supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, seeking to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s electoral victory. According to the FBI, 1,240 people have been charged with crimes related to their participation in the violence, including 452 on charges of assaulting law enforcement officers. More than 900 have pleaded guilty or been convicted.
Trump calls the people involved in the riot "patriots" and those serving their prison sentences "hostages" and has promised to pardon them if he is reelected.
New phase of Biden campaign
Taking jab after jab at Trump, Biden’s address marks a new phase of his campaign that emphasizes Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
"Trump won’t do what an American president must do. He refuses to denounce political violence," Biden said. "So hear me clearly, I’ll say what Donald Trump won’t – political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States’ political system."
"You can’t be pro-insurrectionists and pro-America," Biden underscored, warning that Trump’s assault on democracy will continue if he is reelected. "Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past. It’s what he’s promising for the future. He’s been straightforward. He’s not hiding the ball."
Mike Sozan, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive lobbying group, said that Biden sees himself as a leader who saved American democracy in 2020 and aims to do so again.
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Biden Targets Trump in Speech Defending Democracy as ‘Sacred Cause’
