Two months before the midterm elections, Joe Biden charges against the Republicans

First modification: 08/31/2022 – 15:14

Just weeks before the crucial elections to both chambers of the United States Congress, President Joe Biden lashed out hard against Republicans loyal to his predecessor, Donald Trump. It was during a speech that he sealed the start of his campaign in the northeastern US state of Pennsylvania.

The Democratic leader criticized the conservatives’ reluctance to regulate weapons because, according to him, they fear the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful US arms lobby.

Biden said he was “determined to ban assault rifles” in the United States.

“For God’s sake, what good reason is there to have weapons of war outside of a war zone?” he asked in Wilkes-Barre, not far from his hometown of Scranton.

But to fulfill that promise, Biden would need to not only maintain and consolidate his party’s control of the Senate, but also win the House of Representatives. Despite the resurgence of Democratic momentum in the polls, this scenario seems unlikely according to observers.

The president of the United States also attacked the Republicans on other issues. He criticized them for not voting in favor of public investment in community policing and criticized the most radical members of the opposition party for supporting those who invaded the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Save America’s Soul”

“Let me say this to my friends the ‘MAGA Republicans’ in Congress. Don’t tell me you support law enforcement if you don’t condemn what happened on January 6,” said Joe Biden, who uses the term “MAGA Republicans.” to refer to supporters of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” or “MAGA” ideology, and to differentiate them from more moderate Republicans.

“Which side are they on? You can’t be for the police and you can’t be for the insurgency,” he shouted to a cheering crowd.

“We turn on the television and we have a senator and members of the House of Representatives saying: ‘If this or that happens, there will be blood in the streets.’ Where the hell are we?” exclaimed the head of state. This statement was surely addressed to the conservative senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, who warned that there would be “riots in the streets” if Donald Trump was prosecuted in an investigation into confidential documents found in his house in Florida.

Joe Biden also called the attacks on the FBI “crazy,” while federal police say they received threats after the raid on Donald Trump’s home in early August. “I don’t want to cut the FBI budget,” as some conservatives demanded after this operation, the president assured.

Donald Trump is also scheduled to visit Pennsylvania next Saturday. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has two other trips planned in the coming days in this same state.

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Pennsylvania is just the state where control of the Senate could be up for grabs in upcoming elections, which are often disastrous for the party in power. In Philadelphia, a Pennsylvania city considered the birthplace of the United States, Biden promised to deliver an important speech on Thursday about the need to save the “soul” of the United States.

Pennsylvania’s Senate races pit Democrat John Fetterman, the former mayor of Braddock, a city plagued by deindustrialization, against Republican Mehmet Oz, a doctor-turned-TV star endorsed by Donald Trump.

With AFP and Reuters