Biden takes Trump fight to battleground states
PHILADELPHIA: US President Joe Biden stepped up his attacks on Donald Trump Friday as he took his election message to crucial battleground states on the back of a combative, wellreceived State of the Union address.
Speaking to supporters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, 81year-old Biden finally attacked Trump by name, a day after he had referred to him only as “my predecessor” multiple times.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“Well guess what? We will not let him.”
The Democrat slammed Trump for backing abortion bans and for inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Nato members that don’t pay their bills.
He also criticised Trump for meeting Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who he said “is looking for dictatorship.” Orban has also angered EU allies by maintaining ties with Putin after the invasion of Ukraine.
Biden’s wife Jill Biden gave a lively introduction at the campaign event in Philadelphia in which she also laid into Trump.
“Donald Trump is dangerous to women and to families and to our country and we can’t let him win” in November’s election, she said.
Pennsylvania is Biden’s first stop of a tour of all the key battleground states in March as the race to stop a White House comeback by Trump starts in earnest.
Biden travels on Saturday to Atlanta, Georgia – the same state where Trump is giving a rally on the same day.
He then heads to New Hampshire on Monday, Wisconsin on Wednesday and Michigan on Thursday.
Along the way, the president will look to ride a wave of momentum from the State of the Union speech, which ratings firm Nielsen estimated was seen by 32 million people, up from last year’s viewership of 27 million.
A pumped-up Biden on Thursday launched one of the most scorching addresses ever seen from the podium of the House of Representatives, transforming what used to be a somber set-piece occasion into a raucous political rally.