“There’s simply nothing we cannot do if we do it together,” 80-year-old Biden says.

Previewing their own likely campaign messaging, Republicans responded with a 32-second video that offered a dystopian vision of what a second Biden term would entail, and asks “What if the weakest president we ever had was reelected?”

It shows realistic-looking, but fake, images of Taipei’s signature skyscraper collapsing as “an emboldened China invades Taiwan”, lines of grey-haired people standing outdoors over a voice-over about hundreds of banks collapsing, and an overhead image of tens of thousands of “migrants” entering the country illegally.

The Republican National Committee’s “Beat Biden” video is presented as a fantasy newscast, one in which San Francisco is closed because of “escalating crime and fentanyl crisis”.

“It feels like the train is coming off the tracks,” a narrator says at the end of that ad.

The Republican National Committee told Axios Tuesday’s ad was the first 100 per cent AI video the party has produced.

One thing it does not include: a Republican candidate. The party has yet to choose its contender though Trump is an early favourite to win the nomination.

US politicians rely on launch videos to jump-start their campaigns, offering a bite-sized, emotionally-charged taste of their platform. If the spots are buzzy and eye-catching enough to be replayed, they become “free” advertising.

Biden’s video includes footage of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump, and images of Biden as president, with first lady Jill Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris visiting American workplaces and union halls.

“This is a not a time to be complacent,” Biden says in the video, which includes images of Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another possible Republican contender, and congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s biggest “Make America Great Again” or MAGA backers.

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Joe Biden announces bid for second 4-year term as US President

Joe Biden announces bid for second 4-year term as US President

Biden’s video also has some notable omissions given the current political climate.

He does not mention the word “abortion” in his message, though it is scrawled on a demonstrator’s sign at the start of the video.

There is no mention of the gun violence that he has vowed to curb with an assault weapons ban, or climate change. Instead, it features scenes of Americans of all backgrounds and ages, in union halls, schools and community centres, on farms and in cities.

“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” Biden says.

Tribune News Service and Reuters