An “extremism that threatens the foundations” of the United States: Biden lashes out at Trump

A speech clearly oriented against former President Donald Trump and his followers.

Addressing his compatriots this Thursday, September 1, from the city of Philadelphia, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, multiplied the attacks against his predecessor.

“Too much of what is happening in our country today is wrong. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden said, adding that “equality and democracy” are threatened in the country.

His speech, expected and announced for several days by the White House, was held in Philadelphia. This city in the State of Pennsylvania was not chosen by chance: it is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were adopted and it is also where Biden held his first rally as a presidential candidate. On the other hand, Pennsylvania is considered a key state for the upcoming November elections.

And the attacks against what Joe Biden calls the “MAGA forces” (for “Make America Great Again”, one of Donald Trump’s slogans), who want, according to the president, a country “without the right to privacy , without the right to contraception, without the right to marry whoever you want”.

The head of the Democrats proposes to save the “soul” of the United States

In this speech, which is clearly part of his campaign for the next elections, the US president proposed leading the “battle” for “the soul of the United States.”

Joe Biden “never backs down when it comes to talking about his predecessor (…) but this is not a speech about the former president,” his spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, had earlier assured. It will be about being “optimistic,” she added, explaining that “when we talk about extremism, it only affects a very small part of the American population.”

But Kevin McCarthy, a Republican running for the leadership of the House of Representatives, on Thursday accused Joe Biden of “demonizing” “tens of millions of hard-working, law-abiding Americans.”

Support for Democrats rises in the polls

Visibly encouraged by the good polls, the American leader had already begun to raise his voice against his opponents.

On Thursday, August 25, he called on his compatriots to vote en masse for the Democratic Party in the legislative elections and against the “semi-fascism” of the most radical Republicans.

It was at a fundraising event in a suburb of Washington, in the State of Maryland. The 79-year-old president had criticized the most radical fringe of the conservative camp. “What we are witnessing today is the birth or death sentence of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s a whole philosophy … It’s like semi-fascism,” he said.

After that, he spoke again at a campaign rally for his party and stated that “you have to vote, literally, to save democracy again.”

Although, according to observers, opinion polls should always be viewed with caution, the trend observed for about a month in favor of the Democratic side seems evident, which is giving the president a boost.

And it is that in a few weeks, the turn in his favor was as obvious as it was unexpected. According to the latest polls, the situation no longer has anything to do with the “red wave” – ​​the color of the Republican party – that was expected at the end of June; when high inflation (+9.1%, a level not seen for 40 years) seemed to destroy the chances of Biden’s party.

According to a poll published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, if the midterm elections were held today, 47% of voters would vote Democrat and 44% Republican.

The anti-abortion law: “a bullet in the foot” of the Republicans

But the main factor in this change is not the work of Biden. It is due to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, shaped by Donald Trump, to take the country back half a century ago, by ending the constitutional right to abortion.

The majority of Americans support abortion rights and Democrats are determined to make this issue a central element of their campaign for the upcoming elections. The Supreme Court decision has indeed provoked the anger and mobilization of the electorate, particularly independents, women and the black community.

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On Tuesday, August 23, the victory of a Democrat – who put abortion at the center of his campaign – in a hotly contested New York State district was seen as a further sign of the trend reversal in favor of Joe Biden, whose popularity rating – at its lowest point in July – is also rising.

Some observers even claim that the president could turn history around. In fact, traditionally, mid-term elections are disastrous for the party in power.

Voter registration experienced an unusual uptick, and in a Pew Research Center study published at the end of August, the number of voters who consider the right to abortion a key issue increased from 43% to 56%, compared to the month of March.

Biden has promised that if he wins the election, his party will enshrine this right in federal law, binding conservative states that have already banned or limited access to voluntary termination of pregnancy.

Joe Biden’s 18 months as president: some economic stability and legislative progress

As president, Biden inherited a polarized country whose democratic model came close to tumbling during the events of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters tried to take over the Capitol in protest of the former president’s defeat.

Biden was elected in contrast to his predecessor in order, according to his supporters, to restore some serenity to the nation and decency to the exercise of power.

“We hear more and more about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country,” he said Thursday in a clear allusion to the events on Capitol Hill. “It is not, it will never be an acceptable tool. So I want to say this clearly and simply: There is no place for political violence in the United States. Period. There is no place,” the president added.

On the other hand, for many of his supporters, there has been progress on Biden’s agenda, which could work in his favor in the election.

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Many laws to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and to invest in damaged infrastructure or to develop the “green economy” were voted on. The Inflation Reduction Law, which allows the price of certain medicines to be renegotiated with private groups in the sector and which also includes an ecological component, was also approved.

In addition, there were other announcements with a strong impact on public opinion, such as the death of the Al-Qaeda leader after a US attack, as well as the partial cancellation of student debt.

On the economic front, inflation seems to be showing signs of slowing down and the unemployment rate is 3.5%, a historically low figure.

The first compromise text in the Senate on stricter control of gun sales was also voted on and a black woman, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was appointed to the Supreme Court for the first time.

As for Biden’s international policy, although the withdrawal from Afghanistan was chaotic and humiliating, the president remained committed to leaving this country. In addition, the leader has imposed himself as the leader of the Western clan since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, promoting a reactivation of NATO.

While Trump supporters continue to claim that Biden “stole” the election, a recent NBC poll revealed that US voters’ top concern now is “dangers to democracy,” ahead of the cost of living, which further fuels the hopes of the president and his party.

Meanwhile, Republicans are growing concerned. Its leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has estimated that the conservative party has only half the chance of obtaining a majority in the upper house.

With AFP, AP and local media