President Joe Biden is seeking to stoke voters’ outrage over the extremism of Donald Trump and his supporters ahead of November’s midterm elections, even if the strategy risks exacerbating political tensions in the US.
In a prime-time address to the nation Thursday from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Biden sharpened the criticism he’s recently used to describe his predecessor and Trump supporters.
Declaring that “equality and democracy are under assault” from “extremist” Republicans, he implied that the only way to stop them was to vote against Republicans who support the former president.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again.”
Thursday’s speech was Biden at his most combative. He strode to a lectern from the front door of the hall where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were both written, bathed in alarm-bell red lighting and braced by two Marines standing at parade rest.
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