‘Fight for nation’s soul’
Biden calls opponents ‘semi-fascists’ who want to take US ‘backwards’
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden used a speech to attack hardcore supporters of Donald Trump, warning they were determined to take America “backwards” by subverting basic freedoms.
It came as Mr Biden sought to seize political momentum in a national address ahead of key midterm elections.
The President called out the Republicans who embrace Trump’s “Make America Great Again” ideology.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,” the 79-year-old leader 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.”
With control of Congress for the remainder of his first term in the balance in November’s elections, Mr Biden did not mince his words in what was billed as an address on the “battle for the soul of the nation”.
“For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed,” Mr Biden said, according to speech excerpts. “But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us.”
Last week, Mr Biden accused Mr Trump’s supporters of being consumed by “semifascism” – a term that sparked indignation in conservative ranks.
The Democrats are hoping for an upset in November, when all of the seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate are on the ballot. Traditionally, midterms don’t favour the ruling party.
Meanwhile an increasingly high-stakes standoff between Mr Trump and US federal investigators landed in court after days of headline-grabbing revelations surrounding classified documents seized by the FBI from the former president’s Florida home.
Mr Trump is asking that an outside party be named to reassess the government’s screening of the sensitive documents to determine if any were protected by government secrecy protocols, or were “highly personal information” that should be returned.
A federal court in Florida said it would issue a ruling at an unspecified time.
Prosecutors on Tuesday disclosed much of the evidence from the search of Mr Trump’s residence last month.