President Biden on Friday delivered a ferocious condemnation of Donald J. Trump, his likely 2024 opponent, warning in searing language that the former president had directed an insurrection and would aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returned to power.

On the eve of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Mr. Trump’s supporters, Mr. Biden framed the coming election as a choice between a candidate devoted to upholding America’s centuries-old ideals and a chaos agent willing to discard them for his personal benefit.

“There’s no confusion about who Trump is or what he intends to do,” Mr. Biden warned in a speech at a community college not far from Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, where George Washington commanded troops during the Revolutionary War. Exhorting supporters to prepare to vote this fall, he said: “We all know who Donald Trump is. The question is: Who are we?”

In an intensely personal address that at one point nearly led Mr. Biden to curse Mr. Trump by name, the president compared his rival to foreign autocrats who rule by fiat and lies. He said Mr. Trump had failed the basic test of American leaders, to trust the people to choose their elected officials and abide by their decisions.

“We must be clear,” Mr. Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.”

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  • that guy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Trump sucks but lets not pretend Biden isn’t an amalgamation of weapons contractors and ruthless capitalists pulling his puppet strings. We can do better than 100 year old presidents that won’t be here when they ruin tomorrow

    • hark@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Biden was ruining things when he was younger too. He pushed the crime bill and pushed to make student loans non-dischargeable through bankruptcy. However he’s now forgiven since he pardoned a small fraction of the prisoners he helped imprison and forgave a small fraction of the student loans he helped build up. Most progressive president in modern US history!!!1

      • rckclmbr@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Nobody is saying Biden is great, I agree we could do better. So stop with the whataboutism. If it weren’t against Trump, there might be more tradeoffs to talk about. But right now it’s pretty much “anyone but Trump”

        • hark@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Any other poorly-applied buzzwords like “whataboutism” you’d like to apply? It doesn’t stop with trump. Before trump was bush, and the message was “we gotta stop bush”. It’s not a “just this time” sort of deal. Democrats will keep promoting the shittiest candidates and then say that we must vote them in because the alternative is worse. It doesn’t end.

          • rckclmbr@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Whataboutism isn’t a buzzword, it’s a logical fallacy. Its exactly what you are saying, “what about Biden though!” while completely ignoring the point being discussed, which is that we want an alternative to trump

            • hark@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              It is a buzzword because people like you misuse the hell out of it. I wasn’t even the one who brought up biden, I was responding to a post that talked about him. It’s like you’ve never had a conversation with a human before. Conversations can involve more than one laser-point-focused subject.

          • Rusticus@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            So you’re complaining about Biden but admit he’s the most progressive president in 50 years. Sounds about on brand for progressives.

            • hark@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              No one is denying that biden is the most progressive president that will democrats will allow through, so it’s not much of an admission. This isn’t the gotcha you think it is. That you’re satisfied with a bar so low that it reaches into the core of the Earth sounds about on brand for a diehard democrat such as yourself.

              • Rusticus@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                I’m not a democrat and I’m certainly not a huge fan of Biden. But he’s not demented and he’s the best president for progressives in 50 years. Yet progressives act like there is no difference between Biden and Trump. The reason you’re not getting a reasonable progressive candidate/president is that nothing is ever good enough for progressives.

                • hark@lemmy.world
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                  10 months ago

                  If you’re not a democrat, you still certainly talk like a democratic party PR bot. Asking for health care or to not be under loads of student loan debt is not too much to ask for, but apparently it is for you and the rest of the Biden cheerleaders who think we should all be happy with the garbage-ass president that the democrats pushed through as president. Progressives wanted Bernie. Bernie was the compromise and even then Biden doesn’t hold a candle to Bernie. Biden is fucking garbage, so you touting that he’s the most progressive president that the democrats will allow only makes you and the democratic party (that you supposedly aren’t a fan of) look bad.

                  • Rusticus@lemmy.world
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                    10 months ago

                    QED. Nobody takes progressives seriously because all they do is complain. Fact: Biden is the most progressive president in 50 years. And because progressives like you think he’s “trash” you’re going to get Trump back. How’s that noseless face feel?