President Biden travelled to Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Thursday to warn that America’s democratic values are under assault by forces of extremism loyal to former President Donald J. Trump, using a prime-time address to define the mid-term elections as a “battle for the soul of this nation”.

In a 24-minute speech, Biden blamed his predecessor for stoking a movement filled with election deniers and people calling for political violence.

He went out of his way to declare that not all Republicans embrace extremism, however, and he said that defending democracy would require rejecting Trump and his ideology in elections this autumn.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden said, flanked by Marine guards.

“But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” he added.

“And that is a threat to this country.”

Speaking to several hundred spectators seated in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the country’s political institutions were born, and just steps from the Liberty Bell, Biden made it clear that he believes the political violence and election denial espoused by the former President and his allies have damaged America’s reputation abroad.

He cited the “extraordinary experiment of self-government” represented by the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, saying that “history tells us a blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy”.

The President was interrupted by protesters who chanted “Let’s go, Brandon,” a reference to a crude epithet aimed at Biden that is popular among Trump’s supporters.

At one point, the President joked that “good manners is nothing they ever suffered from”, but he also defended their right to protest, saying “they’re entitled to be outrageous”.

New York Times News Service