Joe Biden, the most powerful man in the world, cannot handle it all alone. At the place where American democracy came to life, he called in his auxiliary troops on Thursday. “We have long thought that American democracy is infallible,” he says in Philadelphia, “but it is not.” To keep democracy alive, it must be defended and protected, the president says. “By all of us!”
Behind him, Independence Hall, decorated with red and blue lighting, glows. This is where the United States Constitution was written in 1787, also in September.
In two months’ time, the midterm elections will be crucial seats in the Senate and the US House of Representatives. Biden’s speech in swing state Pennsylvania, where Trump is holding a rally on Saturday, kicks off a campaign sprint into November’s election. In the speech given on prime time TV, the president lashes out at supporters of Donald Trump.
“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under attack,” Biden said. “We’re not doing ourselves a favor by denying that.”
Bulletproof Glass
As Biden stands behind the lectern on Thursday, the hot sun that shone in Philadelphia a few hours earlier has cooled down. The president looks out on several hundred spectators through bulletproof glass. But people are also standing outside the gates of the closed park, they are screaming. “Fuck Joe Biden!” it sounds in the distance. “Fuck Joe Biden!”
Biden calmly continues his “battle for the soul of this nation.” He accuses his predecessor of leading an extremist movement. “My job is to tell the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable.”
His tone is less harsh on Thursday than expected. He doesn’t sound angry and fiery, more like a leader calmly arguing why we need to join forces before it’s too late.
Biden previously called the Republican ideology “semi-fascist”. Just before Biden’s speech, Kevin McCarthy, the leader of Republicans in the House of Representatives, demanded an apology. “Instead of eliminating division, he’s making it worse.”
The word fascism is not used on Thursday. Also, in his attacks on Trump, Biden makes a clear distinction between the moderate Republicans, whom he has nothing against, and Republicans who embrace extremism.
“But the Republican Party today is being driven by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” a reference to the “Make America Great Again” loyalists. And that, the president says, “is a threat to this country.”
“Fuck Joe Biden!” it sounds again.
This time, the president turns to the side of the screams. There is a big grin on his face. ‘They have a right to be angry’, he says of the protesters, ‘this is a democracy’! In this way, the president gives wings to the message he wants to convey in 24 minutes.
Political extremism
The reason he is doing this now also has to do with the former president. Now back at the center of a criminal investigation, Biden wants to convince voters not to vote for the party still under Trump’s spell. Democrats believe the warnings about political extremism could win over many voters—perhaps even convince moderate Republicans to vote left.
In recent months, Biden has watched as radical and far-right candidates win Republican primaries, while he hoped his presidency would usher in a new Trump-free era. He now knows: even without Trump as president, Trump’s era is not over.
In fact, this year Trump clones have sprung up all over the country. People who, without a doubt, spread lies in their voices: claim the 2020 elections have been stolen. In Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, states that were important to Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, Republicans are in the running to allege fraud in the 2020 election.
Bill Clinton
Biden has more than two months to turn the tide. At the very least, he hopes to keep conservative right-wing forces out of Washington. During a meeting in May, former President Bill Clinton advised him to sharpen the differences with the opposing party in the run-up to the elections. Biden’s team was already working on a plan to blacken Trump’s ‘ultra MAGA agenda’. Supporters would squander freedoms of American citizens.
“MAGA troops are determined to reclaim this country,” Biden said in Philadelphia, “they want to go back to an America where you have no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to birth control, no right to marry.” whom you love’.
That conservative forces have curtailed the right to abortion and continue to spread lies worries many Americans about what’s to come. This could give the Democrats a boost.
Last month, Biden was challenged by a group of historians concerned about political tensions in the country. In a two-hour private meeting, the US president was told that democracy in his country is under serious threat. Parallels were drawn with the period leading up to the 1940 election, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt fought against domestic sympathies for European fascism. Concerns that Thursday reflected in his speech.
“This is not who we are,” Biden shouts, “This is not who we are!”
First Lady Jill Biden stands up from the crowd and gives her husband a big kiss and then some little ones. At least this American can put the president in his pocket. In November it will become clear who else can wind Biden around his finger.