President Joe Biden issued a broad and blistering attack against former President Donald Trump on Thursday, accusing his predecessor and would-be successor of inciting violence, seeking unfettered power and plotting to undermine the Constitution if he returns to office in next year’s elections.
In his most direct condemnation of his leading Republican challenger in many months, Biden portrayed Trump as a budding autocrat with no fidelity to the tenets of American democracy and who is motivated by hatred and a desire for retribution. While he usually avoids referring to Trump by name, Biden this time held nothing back as he offered a dire warning about the consequences of a new Trump term.
“This is a dangerous notion, this President is above the law, no limits on power,” Biden said in a speech in Tempe. “Trump says the Constitution gave him, quote, the right to do whatever he wants as President, end of quote. I never heard a President say that in jest. Not guided by the Constitution or by common service and decency towards our fellow Americans but by vengeance and vindictiveness.”
Biden cited recent comments by Trump vowing “retribution” against his foes, accusing NBC News of “treason” and suggesting that the outgoing chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, might deserve to be put to death. The President also decried plans being developed by Trump’s allies to erode the independence of major agencies, wipe out much of the top ranks of civil service and make senior government officials personally loyal to him.
“Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, purging and packing key institutions, spewing conspiracy theories, spreading lies for profit and power to divide America in every way, inciting violence against those who risk their lives to keep Americans safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as Americans,” Biden said. “This MAGA threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our democratic institutions. It’s also a threat to the character of our nation.”
The assault on Trump represented a marked shift for Biden, who has spent months mostly talking up the benefits of his policies while ignoring the race to choose a Republican nominee to challenge him.
New York Times News Service