In major speech, Biden says Trump and ‘MAGA Republicans’ are threat to US democracy
- Joe Biden labels extreme Donald Trump supporters enemies of American democracy in a prime-time address
- US president urged Americans to reject any candidate backed by his predecessor in the November midterms
US President Joe Biden charged Republican allies of Donald Trump with undermining the country’s democracy and urged voters to reject extremism ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Biden accused lawmakers and others devoted to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda led by former US president Trump as willing to overturn democratic elections, ignore the Constitution and “determined to take this country backwards” to a time without rights to abortion, privacy, contraception or same-sex marriage.
“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said. “As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favour to pretend otherwise.”
The prime-time speech in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, marked a sharp turn for Biden as midterm congressional elections approach.
Aides say the president is increasingly concerned about anti-democratic trends in the Republican Party, and sees a need to jump into this year’s election fight and recast the stakes of his own 2024 re-election bid.
After spending much of 2022 trying to combat high inflation at home and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and enduring two bouts of Covid-19 over the summer, Biden has in recent days repeatedly lashed out at Trump-aligned Republicans.