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President Joe Biden used to steadfastly avoid uttering the name, «Donald Trump.»
But now, bolstered by stronger poll numbers and relatively positive economic news, Biden as of late has been seeking to make the midterm elections a referendum on the former president — and the extreme ideas he says Trump’s supporters espouse.
«There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the ‘MAGA Republicans,’ and that is a threat to this country,» Biden said Thursday during a prime-time speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
His remarks represented the culmination of weeks of ramped-up rhetorical attacks on not all Republicans but Trump-loyal Republicans, whom he has blasted as «ultra-MAGA Republicans» and «MAGA extremists.»
Last week, he said said «the entire philosophy that underpins» the GOP was akin to «semi-fascism.»
Biden has increasingly sought to portray Americans’ choice this November as one between light and darkness — with Trump and his supporters representing «an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,» as he said Thursday.
«MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,» Biden said. «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.» (200730)
And he has been helped by Trump, whose actions have put him in a less-than-positive light.
Since the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump has publicly fought back — even making the raid public in the first place. His haphazard approach has led to sensational headlines as the Justice Department pushes back on his claims.
By holding onto hundreds of documents — many allegedly classified — in the first place, the former president has left Republican candidates who want to look tough on crime struggling to answer for those in their party publicly attacking the FBI, all while U.S. intelligence agencies are assessing the fallout.
«I think that Trump is making this a referendum on himself by the way he’s behaving, and it’s causing a lot of problems for other Republicans,» James Thurber, a professor of government emeritus and author who founded American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, . «He’s the story, rather than inflation and other issues they’re accusing the Democrats of failing on.»
Historically, midterm elections have served as a referendum on the current president. And this year’s did not look good for Biden, who faced sagging poll numbers, roadblocks on Capitol Hill and Democratic candidates who signaled they did not want him to join them on the campaign trail.
