US President Joe Biden has warned voters against re-electing Donald Trump in this year’s election, saying the likely Republican presidential nominee presents a serious risk to the country and described him as a threat to democracy.
The speech on Friday came one day before the third anniversary of the January 6 attack when a violent group of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a desperate bid to keep him in power after his 2020 election loss.
“He told the crowd to fight like hell. And all hell was unleashed,” Biden said at a community college in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. “Then as usual he left the dirty work to others. He retreated to the White House.”
Biden characterised Trump and his followers as dangerous outliers and asked Democrats, independents and “mainstream Republicans” who cherish US democracy to back him.
“Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot,” he said.
“Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future,” Biden said. “Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past. It’s what he’s promising for the future.”
Biden said Trump’s re-election bid was based on trying to seek “revenge and retribution” against his political enemies. He reminded Americans that Trump has called his opponents “vermin,” the “same exact language used in Nazi Germany”.
“How dare he? Who in God’s name does he think he is?” said Biden.
