Explainer | Highlights from Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union speech
- Joe Biden uses State of the Union to contrast with Donald Trump, sell voters on a second term
- The 81-year-old US president went out his way to appear energetic, speaking for over an hour
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Joe Biden launches scorching attack on rival Donald Trump in high stakes State of the Union speech
Here are some takeaways from the State of the Union address on Thursday.
He who won’t be named
Biden opened the speech with fiery denunciations of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, then singled out Republicans in the chamber and Republican foe Trump. But he refused to utter Trump’s name, saying that “my predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6”.
He wrapped that into a larger theme that democracy is threatened like no time since the American Civil War, signaling a clear line of attack he will use against the man he would not name.
He also criticised “my predecessor” for Trump’s assertion that Russian President Vladimir Putin can “do whatever the hell he wants” with respect to Nato allies, and he implored Congress to pass additional aid for Ukraine.
Speaking with a vigor that his supporters have said has been lacking, he set up a contrast between his internationalist view of the world and the more isolationist leaning of his “predecessor”.
Biden used almost the entirety of the speech to find ways to try to persuade Americans of the contrast.