Unusually aggressive Joe Biden launched an attack on his predecessor and rival Donald Trump from the opening minutes of his lengthy State of the Union address last Thursday night (in the early hours today Greek time), accusing him of submitting, “bowing down” to Vladimir Putin and judging that “freedom and democracy” in the country are under “attack”.

I will never bow to Putin

In the imposing semi-circle of the US Congress, cheered wildly by members of his own faction, while the opposition Republicans remained seated in their seats, the Democrat, 81, who is running for re-election in November, assured that “I will never bow down” to the Russian president , who in February 2022 ordered his armed forces to invade

“My predecessor, a Republican ex-president, tells Putin ‘do whatever you want.’ Indeed, a former president said this, bowing to a Russian president. It’s a scandal. It is dangerous. It’s unacceptable!” he snapped, never uttering Donald Trump’s name.

The US president also said, according to the text of his speech released by the White House before it was delivered, that he wants the future of America to be based on its “fundamental values”: “honesty, dignity, equality”. .

“But some other people my age see another story,” that of an America given over “to disgust, to revenge,” he was about to add, referring again, indirectly but clearly, to his 77-year-old opponent.

Donald Trump wants to “get revenge” for his defeat in the 2020 election, which he never accepted. Although he is facing legal proceedings.

The former president had promised to “correct” his opponent directly. Yesterday he accused the Democratic president of turning the US into a country where the situation is worthy of a “horror movie”, while he asked for a debate between them.

“Freedom and democracy are under attack” in the US, President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address.

Since the days of “President Lincoln” and the American Civil War, “never have our freedom and our democracy been under such attack in our country as today,” the Democratic president said in his address to Congress.

The country registered the “biggest recovery”

Countering the rhetoric of US “decline” used by Donald Trump, Joe Biden assured that during his presidency, the country recorded the “greatest recovery” in its history, after the pandemic of the new coronavirus.

“You won’t read it in the headlines but, in thousands of cities and towns the American people are making history with the greatest recovery ever told in history,” he was going to say, according to the text of his speech.

That means “a future full of promise,” according to Joe Biden, who seems determined to play the optimism card, countering his opponent.

He was also going to push back against the repeal of federal abortion laws, promising to “restore” right-of-way protections to American women if the people elect a pro-choice Congress.

“Clearly, those who brag about overturning” the Supreme Court’s protection of abortion rights “have no idea about the power of women in America,” she said.

“But they discovered it when reproductive freedom was judged at the polls and won in 2022, 2023 and they will discover it again in 2024,” added the Catholic, who however wants to be seen as a defender of the right to artificial termination of pregnancy.

Joe Biden has taken an aggressive tone as concerns and criticisms about his age continue to be voiced.

In the traditional opposition response to the president’s speech, Republican Sen. Katie Britt was expected, based on excerpts of her deposition, to refer precisely to his age. “Right now” the president “doesn’t lead” and “the free world deserves better than a hesitant and incompetent leader,” he was going to say.

The whole world is the envy of our economy

US President Joe Biden boasted, during his State of the Union address, about his achievements in the field of economic policy, assuring that the whole world is today “envious” of the US economy.

“I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now the whole world is the envy of our economy. 15 million jobs were created in just three years, that’s a record. And the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in 50 years,” assured the Democrat, a candidate for re-election in November, in his plenary address, addressing the full session of the US Congress.

Humanitarian Corridor for Gaza

Joe Biden was still expected to announce to Congress that he had ordered the US military to set up a temporary port in the Gaza Strip to enable more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the civilian population in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

About an hour before the US president’s speech, slogans about the war on the Gaza Strip could be heard in downtown Washington: protesters holding Palestinian flags gathered near the White House, while others blocked a road leading to the Capitol.

The presidential motorcade moved through roads that avoided the protesters.

Immigrant

US President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union address that he “will not demonize” immigrants like his Republican rival Donald Trump, calling on the US Congress to adopt a bill to impose stricter border controls.

“I will not demonize immigrants by saying they are ‘poisoning the blood of our country,'” the Democrat said, referring to a recent statement by Donald Trump, without naming him either this time. “We can argue about the border issue, or we can solve it,” he added emphatically.