Biden Warns US Democracy Imperiled by Trump, MAGA Extremists

By Staff, Agencies

US President Joe Biden warned that American democracy was in grave peril by Republican forces loyal to Donald Trump who “fan the flames” of political violence in pursuit of power at any cost.

In a primetime address from Philadelphia, Biden said the United States was in a continued battle for the “soul of the nation.”

It was reprising a theme that animated his campaign for the White House in 2020 to frame the stakes of the November elections as an existential choice between his party’s agenda and Republicans’ “extreme MAGA ideology.”

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden said in remarks delivered at Independence Hall.

MAGA is short hand for “Make America great again” – a slogan from Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

Biden emphasized that not all, not even most, Republicans are “MAGA extremists” but there was not a question, he said, that the party was “dominated, driven and intimidated” by his White House predecessor – and perhaps would-be successor.

These Trump Republicans, he said, “thrive on chaos” and “don’t respect the constitution” or the rule of law. They “promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence,” he continued, adding that they believe there are only two possible outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated.

“You can’t love your country when only you win,” Biden said to thundering applause.

The unsparing speech was part of a newly aggressive line of attack Biden has unleashed on Republicans ahead of the midterm elections, as his party enjoys a brightening political outlook helped by a string of significant legislative wins and building public backlash to the supreme court’s decision to end the constitutional right to abortion.

It also comes as Trump, once again at the center of a criminal investigation – this one involving classified documents – lays the groundwork for a potential 2024 presidential run.

“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards,” he 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.”