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President Joe Biden is sounding an alarm Thursday night about what he views as extremist threats to American democracy from the restive forces of Trumpism. He’s aiming to reframe the November elections as part of an unceasing battle for the “soul of the nation.”
Nearly two years after he defeated Donald Trump, it’s a reprise of Biden’s 2020 campaign theme, casting the midterm election stakes in as dire terms as those that sent him to the Oval Office. His prime-time speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia is laying out what he sees as the risks from those he has dubbed “ultra-MAGA Republicans” to the nation’s system of government, its standing abroad and its citizens’ way of life.
The explicit effort by Biden to marginalize Trump and and his “Make America Great Again” adherents marks a sharp turn for the president, who preached his desire to bring about national unity in his Inaugural address. White House officials said it reflects his mounting concern about Trump allies’ ideological proposals and relentless denial of the nation’s 2020 election results.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,” Biden is saying, according to prepared remarks released by the White House. “Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
“For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not,” Biden says. “We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us.”
Biden, who largely avoided even referring to “the former guy” by name during his first year in office, has grown increasingly vocal in calling out Trump personally. Now, emboldened by his party’s recent legislative wins and wary of Trump’s return to the headlines, Biden is sharpening his attacks.
Trump plans a rally this weekend in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden’s birthplace.
At a Democratic fundraiser last week, Biden likened the “MAGA philosophy” to “semi-fascism.”
In Philadelphia, White House officials said, Biden intended to hark back to the 2017 white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, which he says brought him out of political retirement to challenge Trump. Biden argues that the country faces a similar crossroads in the coming months.
Biden allies stress that he is not rejecting the entirety of the GOP and is calling on traditional Republicans to join him in condemning Trump and his followers.
