President Joe Biden addressed the nation from Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday evening, warning voters that the future of democracy was at risk during the midterm elections in November.
During the prime-time address, Biden leaned into the recent momentum his party has gained in recent weeks, such as Democratic wins in contentious special elections and the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. The president’s address comes just two months before voters head to the polls in the midterm elections, likely deciding which party will gain control of Congress for the next two years.
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Here are three takeaways from Biden’s speech:
Biden hopes to reframe midterm elections
Throughout his speech, Biden offered a choice for voters: to back Democrats or to fall into right-wing “MAGA forces” that threaten the future of democracy.
Midterm elections are usually an assessment of how well a president is doing during his term, typically resulting in a shift of power in Congress if a president’s favorability is low. This spells trouble for Biden, who has been plagued with low ratings over the last several months.
However, Biden sought to flip the script, warning voters that democracy is at stake — largely because of Trump, according to the president.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,” the president said. “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 name-drops Trump as a threat to democracy
Although the president has often shied away from mentioning Trump explicitly in his speeches, Biden named his potential 2024 challenger three times throughout his address.
“There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” he said. “It is within our power. It’s in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on American democracy.”
However, Biden was careful to include a line that not all Republicans fall under this “extreme ideology.” The president particularly leaned into this rhetoric, attempting to draw a line between Republicans who consider the Jan. 6 riot to be a legitimate protest and those who have denounced the attack.
Trump and Republicans decry Biden’s speech as divisive
Trump quickly responded to the speech that mentioned the former president by name, calling the address “awkward and angry.”
The former president particularly took aim at Biden’s attempts to tie his “MAGA” campaign to right-wing extremism.
“Someone should explain to Joe Biden, slowly but passionately, that MAGA means, as powerfully as mere words can get, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “If he doesn’t want to Make America Great Again, which through words, action, and thought, he doesn’t, then he certainly should not be representing the United States of America!”
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Other Republicans chimed in, criticizing the speech as divisive.
“Tonight, Joe Biden vilified millions of Americans in a divisive & angry speech that was detached from the reality of his political failures,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in a tweet. “He isn’t actually interested in restoring the soul of the nation, he’s only interested [in] pitting his fellow Americans against one another.”
