In a new escalation in the already tense political polarization in the United States, President Joe Biden criticized former president Donald Trump and his supporters, whom he accused of “being determined to take the country into the past”, in a harsh speech on Thursday night. Friday (1st) in Philadelphia.
“To a past where there was no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry the one you love,” the American president said in the speech, considered the toughest of his term so far. For the president, “democracy is under attack”.
With the caveat that “not all Republicans agree with this extremist ideology”, Biden said that the party “is dominated and intimidated by Trump and Maga. [slogan de Trump que, em português, quer dizer ‘faça dos EUA um paÃs grande novamente’]and that is a threat to the country.”
He also said that Trump supporters “do not respect the constitution, do not respect the will of the people”, and that he will not be calmed by seeing “the democracy of this country being attacked by people who do not accept that they have lost.”
The location of the speech, outside Independence Hall, was as symbolic as possible. Philadelphia is considered the birthplace of American democracy, and it was in this same building where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the country’s Constitution in 1787 – in the approximately 25-minute speech, Biden made a series of references to the founding of the nation, nearly 250 years ago.
In addition, it was Pennsylvania, the state where Biden was born, that defined the Democrat’s victory in the 2020 election against Trump. It is a pendulum state, which has no clear alignment with Democrats or Republicans, and which will elect a new governor in November. So in less than a week the president goes to the state three times — just 230 kilometers separate Philadelphia from the capital, Washington.
With just over two months to go before the midterms legislative elections, and with the expectation that Republicans will regain a majority at least in the House, if not also in the Senate, Biden abandons calls for union and raises the tone against the opponents.
Similar rhetoric had already been used at a private event for campaign donors last Thursday (25) in Maryland. “What we are seeing now is the beginning or the death sentence of an extremist philosophy by Maga,” he said at the time. “It’s not just Trump, it’s the whole philosophy that underpins the, I’ll say one thing, it’s like semi-fascism.”
The speech provoked a series of reactions, and this Thursday, House Minority Leader, Republican Kevin McCarthy, said that “the first sentence” Biden should have said in his speech was “an apology for slandering tens of millions of people.” Americans calling them fascists,” he said.
“Biden chose to divide, demote and belittle his fellow Americans. Why? Simply because they disagree with his policies,” the congressman said in Scranton, the president’s hometown.
On Tuesday (30), also in Pennsylvania, the president had already said that “it is sickening to see new attacks against the FBI, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers and their families for simply complying with the law and doing their job”, he said, before amending that “there is no place in this country” for those who commit this type of crime.
Biden referred to threats against agents of the FBI, the US federal police, after the operation to search the home of former President Donald Trump in early August, in search of classified documents withheld by the Republican, amid an investigation into a possible violation. of the espionage law, in addition to obstruction of justice.
On Thursday, he took up the theme again and said that “there is no place for political violence in the United States.”
The search of Trump’s home further heightened the already tense political climate and raised alarms against domestic terrorism: A Trump supporter attacked, with guns, an FBI office in Ohio, and a number of agents have received threats since then — one candidate Republican to the Florida primaries was suspended from Twitter after writing that his government platform is to give “permission to shoot FBI agents, the IRS, the gun bureau, and any other federal force in sight.”
Excerpts of Thursday’s speech were released by the American press throughout the day, which further raised expectations and anticipated criticism. “Biden pitted neighbors against each other, called half of Americans fascists and spoiled any idea of ​​his pledge of unity,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement released before the speech.
To get a sense of the importance of the speech for the White House, the text had been prepared by the president since the beginning of the summer, according to the local press. But it was a risky speech for a president of faltering popularity, with just 38% approval according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
With the relief in economic indicators such as the price of gasoline, after passing popular measures such as the relief of US$ 10,000 of student debt for Americans up to a certain income bracket and after achieving resounding victories in Parliament, such as the approval of the environmental package, the moment is slightly more favorable for the American president.
