WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said “MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards” in a prime-time address to the nation Thursday, urging Americans to “stand up” to defend democracy amid rising threats of political violence.
Biden warned that “equality and democracy are under assault,” singling out the former president by name and his supporters who have denied the results of the 2020 presidential election. He called on Americans to rally behind the “single purpose of defending our democracy, regardless of your ideology.”
“Too much in our country is not normal,” Biden said in a 24-minute speech from outside Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
Biden said “MAGA Republicans” do not respect the Constitution, believe in the rule of law or recognize the will of the people. “They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies,” he said.
Although the White House claimed the speech wasn’t about the midterm elections less than 70 days away, the president was speaking in a crucial battleground state that could decide control of the Senate. Protesters with bullhorns interrupted the president during much of the speech.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards – backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” Biden said.
He later called on all Americans to be committed to saving democracy. “For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed, but it is not. We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it. Each and every one of us.”
More:‘Extremist threat to our democracy’: What Biden hopes to accomplish in prime-time speech Thursday
Biden has pushed a more aggressive tone as the campaign kicks into high gear, accusing Republicans aligned Trump of “semi-fascism” and calling out those who deny the 2020 presidential election results. He’s singled out “MAGA Republicans,” referring the Make America Great Again movement spawned by his predecessor, to argue the party has become increasingly “extreme.”
“They live not in the light of truth, but in the shadow of lies,” Biden said. “I will not stand by and watch the will of the American people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories.”
The president called Republican attacks on the FBI “sickening” in a fiery speech Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He condemned the push to “defund the FBI” and slammed Republicans who refuse to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. “For God’s sake, whose side are you on?” he said.
Looking to raise the stakes of the election, Biden has argued abortion rights, the survival of Social Security, climate and democracy itself are on the ballot.
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Philadelphia, known as the birthplace of American democracy, was a calculated site for the speech. It’s also where Biden launched his 2020 presidential campaign. The president Thursday reintroduced the central argument of his 2020 run by framing the stakes as “the continued battle for the soul of the nation.”
Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pushed back at the premise of Biden’s speech, arguing Biden “does not understand the soul of America.” He said the “tens of millions of hard-working, law-abiding citizens that he vilifies” simply want a say in their child’s education, gas they can afford, inflation to halt and feel safe to go on their streets.
“They want a stronger, safer, more prosperous America,” McCarthy said in an interview Thursday on Fox News. “And all he does is vilify them to distract from the disasters and no plan he has to save America from where we are today.”
More:Defund the FBI? Why Republican rallying cry could boost Democrats in midterm elections
Democrats, who once seemed on track for a potentially disastrous midterm election, have found new reason for optimism following special-election congressional victories in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Biden has seen approval ratings that floundered the past year finally start to improve after a series of legislative wins and lowering gas prices.
Ahead of the speech, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the remarks would paint an “optimistic” vision for “how he believes we can get through this critical moment that we are in.”
A poll from NBC News last week found that 21% of voters said “threats to democracy” were the top issue facing the country, above the economy, immigration and climate change.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @Joeygarrison.
