“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under attack,” Biden said. “We do ourselves no favors to pretend otherwise.” Biden sought to separate Trump’s most loyal supporters from the Republican Party as a whole. And as he concluded, he tried to strike a more optimistic note, saying it was still in the voters’ power to rein in the nation’s darkest forces. But the heart of Biden’s speech was a wake-up call about what he called “extremism that threatens the very foundations of our democracy.” “The MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Back to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy. No right to contraception, no right to marry the one you love,” he said, hitting out at cultural issues Democrats believe it can help them win in November. “They promote authoritarian leaders,” he continued. “They fanned the flames of political violence.” After tearing Republicans for what he calls “MAGA extremism” and “quasi-fascism” last week, administration officials say Biden decided the time was right to provide a more serious, sober account of what he sees as growing anti-democratic forces in the building. across the country. Officials insisted that Biden’s message was not partisan and instead aimed at a fringe wing of the GOP. But he called on his audience to go to the polls in November and attacked his predecessor, backed by traditional apolitical symbols such as the United States band and two marines stationed at a point where they were on camera throughout the speech. “We have to be honest with each other and with ourselves: Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. The 2022 Republican Party is partly “dominated, led and bullied” by Trump and his associates, he said. It’s an issue Biden has embraced more publicly in recent months after initially trying to ignore his predecessor’s fallout and focus on national unity. At its core, the speech represented the same overarching theme that defined the launch of his 2019 presidential campaign as he set out to defeat Trump. She remained steadfast through high-profile speeches at locations steeped in historical symbolism, including Warm Springs, Georgia, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The first hour statements were no different, this time against the backdrop of the nation’s revolutionary beginnings. A crowd of about 300 guests — a mix of elected officials and officials, along with Democratic supporters — watched Biden speak behind bulletproof glass. It was a short distance from where Biden formally announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2019, creating similar themes about the “battle for the nation’s soul.” White House officials stressed in advance that when Biden warns of the threat to democracy, he is not talking about Republicans as a whole, but about those who describe themselves after Trump: the “MAGA Republicans,” as the administration has deemed them. . Before the speech, Rona McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Biden was dividing the nation. “Joe Biden is the master divider and epitomizes the current state of the Democratic Party: division, disgust and hostility toward half the country,” she said in a statement. Biden has been mulling a keynote address on American democracy for several months, prompted in part by the revealing hearings convened by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 uprising, according to an official. He’s also watched with concern as dissidents running for office across the state have been angered by Trump and angered by the attempted attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio. In his remarks, Biden said right-wing forces were encouraging political violence, insisting it was “inflammatory and dangerous.” “We the people have to say that we are not who we are,” he said.
Biden wants to seize the moment
While Biden played down when the “fever” would break when it came to the GOP’s ties to Trump, recent weeks have brought into sharp focus many of the campaign pledges that seemed just as unrealistic — from major bipartisan deals to major investments in manufacturing, climate and health care — have, in fact, been signed into law.
The convergence of factors has created a genuine sense within the West Wing that the political winds are shifting just as Americans begin to tune in to the midterm elections. It has also had a dramatic effect on the White House itself, where months of intra-party warfare, a resurgent and ubiquitous Covid-19 pandemic and a myriad of crises that many aides felt were beyond their control appear to have finally turned their way.
Even Biden, who amuses himself by recounting the story of the doctor who called him a “born optimist,” was not immune to a sense of gloom and occasional doom that hung over the West Wing for months.
“It could get pretty dark,” said one person who spoke regularly with Biden about his take on things toward the end of his first year in office. “It’s not his way, but there was a period there,” when Biden’s mood mirrored that of the depleted country he led.
But the shifting winds this summer have coincided with Trump’s significant re-emergence in the national spotlight. Republican politicians and candidates running entire campaigns based on false allegations of rigged elections have become more common.
As the midterm campaign season kicks into high gear, the confluence of factors created an ideal time for Biden to present what he’s long had in mind, officials say.
“The President felt this was an opportune time before the traditional election season begins next week to lay out what is at stake, not for any individual political party, but for our democracy itself,” a senior administration official said.
A rare prime-time speech shows Biden’s focus on democracy
Biden worked for several days with his editors on drafts of the 20- to 30-minute speech, going over precise language and wording. The president usually rehearses his major speeches in advance and his schedule was clear of public events on Wednesday and Thursday as he prepared.
Biden has delivered few speeches during his presidency, including his annual addresses to Congress and remarks on gun violence earlier this summer. Aides said the President felt the matter was serious enough to address the nation in the evening — and to ask the television networks to interrupt their regular programming (though the broadcast networks declined to air the President’s remarks).
White House officials have said they want to be selective about when and where to address the issues surrounding the erosion of democracy, even as many party activists have called for more focus on the issue. The issue itself is one that consumes much of Biden’s thinking, those close to him say — something that can leak into the public sphere during the rare moments he actually engages with reporters.
But choosing the right time to address them on a large national scale, Biden’s team believes, will prevent the issue from becoming routine for voters. Biden, officials note, had no qualms about that strategy.
The “semi-fascism” comment is causing outrage, but the White House won’t back down
Biden’s recent aggressive rhetoric has prompted howls of protest from Republicans. When he accused Trump supporters of “semi-fascism” at a fundraiser last week, the response was swift. “Terribly offensive,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has not aligned himself with Trump. “He’s trying to stir up controversy, he’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election, it’s just — it’s horribly inappropriate.” At least one Democrat in a tight re-election race also distanced herself from Biden’s remark. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said Biden “painted with too broad a brush” when he made the comment. While officials describe Biden’s message as urgent, it remains to be seen whether voters facing high prices and an uncertain economy will heed his warnings about the state of democracy. However, recent polls have shown concerns about the rise of democracy among voters. An NBC poll conducted in August found that “threats to democracy” rose to the No. 1 issue facing the country, surpassing “cost of living.” And a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 67 percent of respondents believe the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapsing, up 9 points from January. Unplanned — but not entirely unwelcome — for the White House were the ongoing developments surrounding Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a matter the White House has officially kept at arm’s length to avoid the appearance of politicization. But reminding voters of the chaos that has surrounded Trump’s presidency has been particularly palatable to some Democrats, who see it as a stark contrast to Biden’s way of doing business. “It’s like the chaos was kept in memory because of the 50 million other things going on,” said a Democratic official with close ties to the White House. Biden “will never go it alone for Trump — he sees it as much bigger than that and probably, to some extent, beneath him,” the official said. “But I think most people in our party appreciate the very clear opposition now that it’s back in the headlines.” This story was updated with additional developments Thursday. CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Jeff Zeleny…
title: “Biden In His Speech Warns Trump And His Closest Followers Are Trying To Undermine American Democracy Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Ronald Daley”
“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under attack,” Biden said. “We do ourselves no favors to pretend otherwise.” Biden sought to separate Trump’s most loyal supporters from the Republican Party as a whole. And as he concluded, he tried to strike a more optimistic note, saying it was still in the voters’ power to rein in the nation’s darkest forces. But the heart of Biden’s speech was a wake-up call about what he called “extremism that threatens the very foundations of our democracy.” “The MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Back to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy. No right to contraception, no right to marry the one you love,” he said, hitting out at cultural issues Democrats believe it can help them win in November. “They promote authoritarian leaders,” he continued. “They fanned the flames of political violence.” After tearing Republicans for what he calls “MAGA extremism” and “quasi-fascism” last week, administration officials say Biden decided the time was right to provide a more serious, sober account of what he sees as growing anti-democratic forces in the building. across the country. Officials insisted that Biden’s message was not partisan and instead aimed at a fringe wing of the GOP. But he called on his audience to go to the polls in November and attacked his predecessor, backed by traditional apolitical symbols such as the United States band and two marines stationed at a point where they were on camera throughout the speech. “We have to be honest with each other and with ourselves: Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. The 2022 Republican Party is partly “dominated, led and bullied” by Trump and his associates, he said. It’s an issue Biden has embraced more publicly in recent months after initially trying to ignore his predecessor’s fallout and focus on national unity. At its core, the speech represented the same overarching theme that defined the launch of his 2019 presidential campaign as he set out to defeat Trump. She remained steadfast through high-profile speeches at locations steeped in historical symbolism, including Warm Springs, Georgia, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The first hour statements were no different, this time against the backdrop of the nation’s revolutionary beginnings. A crowd of about 300 guests — a mix of elected officials and officials, along with Democratic supporters — watched Biden speak behind bulletproof glass. It was a short distance from where Biden formally announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2019, creating similar themes about the “battle for the nation’s soul.” White House officials stressed in advance that when Biden warns of the threat to democracy, he is not talking about Republicans as a whole, but about those who describe themselves after Trump: the “MAGA Republicans,” as the administration has deemed them. . Before the speech, Rona McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Biden was dividing the nation. “Joe Biden is the master divider and epitomizes the current state of the Democratic Party: division, disgust and hostility toward half the country,” she said in a statement. Biden has been mulling a keynote address on American democracy for several months, prompted in part by the revealing hearings convened by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 uprising, according to an official. He’s also watched with concern as dissidents running for office across the state have been angered by Trump and angered by the attempted attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio. In his remarks, Biden said right-wing forces were encouraging political violence, insisting it was “inflammatory and dangerous.” “We the people have to say that we are not who we are,” he said.
Biden wants to seize the moment
While Biden played down when the “fever” would break when it came to the GOP’s ties to Trump, recent weeks have brought into sharp focus many of the campaign pledges that seemed just as unrealistic — from major bipartisan deals to major investments in manufacturing, climate and health care — have, in fact, been signed into law.
The convergence of factors has created a genuine sense within the West Wing that the political winds are shifting just as Americans begin to tune in to the midterm elections. It has also had a dramatic effect on the White House itself, where months of intra-party warfare, a resurgent and ubiquitous Covid-19 pandemic and a myriad of crises that many aides felt were beyond their control appear to have finally turned their way.
Even Biden, who amuses himself by recounting the story of the doctor who called him a “born optimist,” was not immune to a sense of gloom and occasional doom that hung over the West Wing for months.
“It could get pretty dark,” said one person who spoke regularly with Biden about his take on things toward the end of his first year in office. “It’s not his way, but there was a period there,” when Biden’s mood mirrored that of the depleted country he led.
But the shifting winds this summer have coincided with Trump’s significant re-emergence in the national spotlight. Republican politicians and candidates running entire campaigns based on false allegations of rigged elections have become more common.
As the midterm campaign season kicks into high gear, the confluence of factors created an ideal time for Biden to present what he’s long had in mind, officials say.
“The President felt this was an opportune time before the traditional election season begins next week to lay out what is at stake, not for any individual political party, but for our democracy itself,” a senior administration official said.
A rare prime-time speech shows Biden’s focus on democracy
Biden worked for several days with his editors on drafts of the 20- to 30-minute speech, going over precise language and wording. The president usually rehearses his major speeches in advance and his schedule was clear of public events on Wednesday and Thursday as he prepared.
Biden has delivered few speeches during his presidency, including his annual addresses to Congress and remarks on gun violence earlier this summer. Aides said the President felt the matter was serious enough to address the nation in the evening — and to ask the television networks to interrupt their regular programming (though the broadcast networks declined to air the President’s remarks).
White House officials have said they want to be selective about when and where to address the issues surrounding the erosion of democracy, even as many party activists have called for more focus on the issue. The issue itself is one that consumes much of Biden’s thinking, those close to him say — something that can leak into the public sphere during the rare moments he actually engages with reporters.
But choosing the right time to address them on a large national scale, Biden’s team believes, will prevent the issue from becoming routine for voters. Biden, officials note, had no qualms about that strategy.
The “semi-fascism” comment is causing outrage, but the White House won’t back down
Biden’s recent aggressive rhetoric has prompted howls of protest from Republicans. When he accused Trump supporters of “semi-fascism” at a fundraiser last week, the response was swift. “Terribly offensive,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has not aligned himself with Trump. “He’s trying to stir up controversy, he’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election, it’s just — it’s horribly inappropriate.” At least one Democrat in a tight re-election race also distanced herself from Biden’s remark. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said Biden “painted with too broad a brush” when he made the comment. While officials describe Biden’s message as urgent, it remains to be seen whether voters facing high prices and an uncertain economy will heed his warnings about the state of democracy. However, recent polls have shown concerns about the rise of democracy among voters. An NBC poll conducted in August found that “threats to democracy” rose to the No. 1 issue facing the country, surpassing “cost of living.” And a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 67 percent of respondents believe the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapsing, up 9 points from January. Unplanned — but not entirely unwelcome — for the White House were the ongoing developments surrounding Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a matter the White House has officially kept at arm’s length to avoid the appearance of politicization. But reminding voters of the chaos that has surrounded Trump’s presidency has been particularly palatable to some Democrats, who see it as a stark contrast to Biden’s way of doing business. “It’s like the chaos was kept in memory because of the 50 million other things going on,” said a Democratic official with close ties to the White House. Biden “will never go it alone for Trump — he sees it as much bigger than that and probably, to some extent, beneath him,” the official said. “But I think most people in our party appreciate the very clear opposition now that it’s back in the headlines.” This story was updated with additional developments Thursday. CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Jeff Zeleny…
title: “Biden In His Speech Warns Trump And His Closest Followers Are Trying To Undermine American Democracy Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-08” author: “Jeannine Rangel”
“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under attack,” Biden said. “We do ourselves no favors to pretend otherwise.” Biden sought to separate Trump’s most loyal supporters from the Republican Party as a whole. And as he concluded, he tried to strike a more optimistic note, saying it was still in the voters’ power to rein in the nation’s darkest forces. But the heart of Biden’s speech was a wake-up call about what he called “extremism that threatens the very foundations of our democracy.” “The MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Back to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy. No right to contraception, no right to marry the one you love,” he said, hitting out at cultural issues Democrats believe it can help them win in November. “They promote authoritarian leaders,” he continued. “They fanned the flames of political violence.” After tearing Republicans for what he calls “MAGA extremism” and “quasi-fascism” last week, administration officials say Biden decided the time was right to provide a more serious, sober account of what he sees as growing anti-democratic forces in the building. across the country. Officials insisted that Biden’s message was not partisan and instead aimed at a fringe wing of the GOP. But he called on his audience to go to the polls in November and attacked his predecessor, backed by traditional apolitical symbols such as the United States band and two marines stationed at a point where they were on camera throughout the speech. “We have to be honest with each other and with ourselves: Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. The 2022 Republican Party is partly “dominated, led and bullied” by Trump and his associates, he said. It’s an issue Biden has embraced more publicly in recent months after initially trying to ignore his predecessor’s fallout and focus on national unity. At its core, the speech represented the same overarching theme that defined the launch of his 2019 presidential campaign as he set out to defeat Trump. She remained steadfast through high-profile speeches at locations steeped in historical symbolism, including Warm Springs, Georgia, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The first hour statements were no different, this time against the backdrop of the nation’s revolutionary beginnings. A crowd of about 300 guests — a mix of elected officials and officials, along with Democratic supporters — watched Biden speak behind bulletproof glass. It was a short distance from where Biden formally announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2019, creating similar themes about the “battle for the nation’s soul.” White House officials stressed in advance that when Biden warns of the threat to democracy, he is not talking about Republicans as a whole, but about those who describe themselves after Trump: the “MAGA Republicans,” as the administration has deemed them. . Before the speech, Rona McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Biden was dividing the nation. “Joe Biden is the master divider and epitomizes the current state of the Democratic Party: division, disgust and hostility toward half the country,” she said in a statement. Biden has been mulling a keynote address on American democracy for several months, prompted in part by the revealing hearings convened by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 uprising, according to an official. He’s also watched with concern as dissidents running for office across the state have been angered by Trump and angered by the attempted attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio. In his remarks, Biden said right-wing forces were encouraging political violence, insisting it was “inflammatory and dangerous.” “We the people have to say that we are not who we are,” he said.
Biden wants to seize the moment
While Biden played down when the “fever” would break when it came to the GOP’s ties to Trump, recent weeks have brought into sharp focus many of the campaign pledges that seemed just as unrealistic — from major bipartisan deals to major investments in manufacturing, climate and health care — have, in fact, been signed into law.
The convergence of factors has created a genuine sense within the West Wing that the political winds are shifting just as Americans begin to tune in to the midterm elections. It has also had a dramatic effect on the White House itself, where months of intra-party warfare, a resurgent and ubiquitous Covid-19 pandemic and a myriad of crises that many aides felt were beyond their control appear to have finally turned their way.
Even Biden, who amuses himself by recounting the story of the doctor who called him a “born optimist,” was not immune to a sense of gloom and occasional doom that hung over the West Wing for months.
“It could get pretty dark,” said one person who spoke regularly with Biden about his take on things toward the end of his first year in office. “It’s not his way, but there was a period there,” when Biden’s mood mirrored that of the depleted country he led.
But the shifting winds this summer have coincided with Trump’s significant re-emergence in the national spotlight. Republican politicians and candidates running entire campaigns based on false allegations of rigged elections have become more common.
As the midterm campaign season kicks into high gear, the confluence of factors created an ideal time for Biden to present what he’s long had in mind, officials say.
“The President felt this was an opportune time before the traditional election season begins next week to lay out what is at stake, not for any individual political party, but for our democracy itself,” a senior administration official said.
A rare prime-time speech shows Biden’s focus on democracy
Biden worked for several days with his editors on drafts of the 20- to 30-minute speech, going over precise language and wording. The president usually rehearses his major speeches in advance and his schedule was clear of public events on Wednesday and Thursday as he prepared.
Biden has delivered few speeches during his presidency, including his annual addresses to Congress and remarks on gun violence earlier this summer. Aides said the President felt the matter was serious enough to address the nation in the evening — and to ask the television networks to interrupt their regular programming (though the broadcast networks declined to air the President’s remarks).
White House officials have said they want to be selective about when and where to address the issues surrounding the erosion of democracy, even as many party activists have called for more focus on the issue. The issue itself is one that consumes much of Biden’s thinking, those close to him say — something that can leak into the public sphere during the rare moments he actually engages with reporters.
But choosing the right time to address them on a large national scale, Biden’s team believes, will prevent the issue from becoming routine for voters. Biden, officials note, had no qualms about that strategy.
The “semi-fascism” comment is causing outrage, but the White House won’t back down
Biden’s recent aggressive rhetoric has prompted howls of protest from Republicans. When he accused Trump supporters of “semi-fascism” at a fundraiser last week, the response was swift. “Terribly offensive,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has not aligned himself with Trump. “He’s trying to stir up controversy, he’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election, it’s just — it’s horribly inappropriate.” At least one Democrat in a tight re-election race also distanced herself from Biden’s remark. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said Biden “painted with too broad a brush” when he made the comment. While officials describe Biden’s message as urgent, it remains to be seen whether voters facing high prices and an uncertain economy will heed his warnings about the state of democracy. However, recent polls have shown concerns about the rise of democracy among voters. An NBC poll conducted in August found that “threats to democracy” rose to the No. 1 issue facing the country, surpassing “cost of living.” And a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 67 percent of respondents believe the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapsing, up 9 points from January. Unplanned — but not entirely unwelcome — for the White House were the ongoing developments surrounding Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a matter the White House has officially kept at arm’s length to avoid the appearance of politicization. But reminding voters of the chaos that has surrounded Trump’s presidency has been particularly palatable to some Democrats, who see it as a stark contrast to Biden’s way of doing business. “It’s like the chaos was kept in memory because of the 50 million other things going on,” said a Democratic official with close ties to the White House. Biden “will never go it alone for Trump — he sees it as much bigger than that and probably, to some extent, beneath him,” the official said. “But I think most people in our party appreciate the very clear opposition now that it’s back in the headlines.” This story was updated with additional developments Thursday. CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Jeff Zeleny…
title: “Biden In His Speech Warns Trump And His Closest Followers Are Trying To Undermine American Democracy Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-11” author: “Irene Hawn”
“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under attack,” Biden said. “We do ourselves no favors to pretend otherwise.” Biden sought to separate Trump’s most loyal supporters from the Republican Party as a whole. And as he concluded, he tried to strike a more optimistic note, saying it was still in the voters’ power to rein in the nation’s darkest forces. But the heart of Biden’s speech was a wake-up call about what he called “extremism that threatens the very foundations of our democracy.” “The MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Back to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy. No right to contraception, no right to marry the one you love,” he said, hitting out at cultural issues Democrats believe it can help them win in November. “They promote authoritarian leaders,” he continued. “They fanned the flames of political violence.” After tearing Republicans for what he calls “MAGA extremism” and “quasi-fascism” last week, administration officials say Biden decided the time was right to provide a more serious, sober account of what he sees as growing anti-democratic forces in the building. across the country. Officials insisted that Biden’s message was not partisan and instead aimed at a fringe wing of the GOP. But he called on his audience to go to the polls in November and attacked his predecessor, backed by traditional apolitical symbols such as the United States band and two marines stationed at a point where they were on camera throughout the speech. “We have to be honest with each other and with ourselves: Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. The 2022 Republican Party is partly “dominated, led and bullied” by Trump and his associates, he said. It’s an issue Biden has embraced more publicly in recent months after initially trying to ignore his predecessor’s fallout and focus on national unity. At its core, the speech represented the same overarching theme that defined the launch of his 2019 presidential campaign as he set out to defeat Trump. She remained steadfast through high-profile speeches at locations steeped in historical symbolism, including Warm Springs, Georgia, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The first hour statements were no different, this time against the backdrop of the nation’s revolutionary beginnings. A crowd of about 300 guests — a mix of elected officials and officials, along with Democratic supporters — watched Biden speak behind bulletproof glass. It was a short distance from where Biden formally announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2019, creating similar themes about the “battle for the nation’s soul.” White House officials stressed in advance that when Biden warns of the threat to democracy, he is not talking about Republicans as a whole, but about those who describe themselves after Trump: the “MAGA Republicans,” as the administration has deemed them. . Before the speech, Rona McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Biden was dividing the nation. “Joe Biden is the master divider and epitomizes the current state of the Democratic Party: division, disgust and hostility toward half the country,” she said in a statement. Biden has been mulling a keynote address on American democracy for several months, prompted in part by the revealing hearings convened by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 uprising, according to an official. He’s also watched with concern as dissidents running for office across the state have been angered by Trump and angered by the attempted attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio. In his remarks, Biden said right-wing forces were encouraging political violence, insisting it was “inflammatory and dangerous.” “We the people have to say that we are not who we are,” he said.
Biden wants to seize the moment
While Biden played down when the “fever” would break when it came to the GOP’s ties to Trump, recent weeks have brought into sharp focus many of the campaign pledges that seemed just as unrealistic — from major bipartisan deals to major investments in manufacturing, climate and health care — have, in fact, been signed into law.
The convergence of factors has created a genuine sense within the West Wing that the political winds are shifting just as Americans begin to tune in to the midterm elections. It has also had a dramatic effect on the White House itself, where months of intra-party warfare, a resurgent and ubiquitous Covid-19 pandemic and a myriad of crises that many aides felt were beyond their control appear to have finally turned their way.
Even Biden, who amuses himself by recounting the story of the doctor who called him a “born optimist,” was not immune to a sense of gloom and occasional doom that hung over the West Wing for months.
“It could get pretty dark,” said one person who spoke regularly with Biden about his take on things toward the end of his first year in office. “It’s not his way, but there was a period there,” when Biden’s mood mirrored that of the depleted country he led.
But the shifting winds this summer have coincided with Trump’s significant re-emergence in the national spotlight. Republican politicians and candidates running entire campaigns based on false allegations of rigged elections have become more common.
As the midterm campaign season kicks into high gear, the confluence of factors created an ideal time for Biden to present what he’s long had in mind, officials say.
“The President felt this was an opportune time before the traditional election season begins next week to lay out what is at stake, not for any individual political party, but for our democracy itself,” a senior administration official said.
A rare prime-time speech shows Biden’s focus on democracy
Biden worked for several days with his editors on drafts of the 20- to 30-minute speech, going over precise language and wording. The president usually rehearses his major speeches in advance and his schedule was clear of public events on Wednesday and Thursday as he prepared.
Biden has delivered few speeches during his presidency, including his annual addresses to Congress and remarks on gun violence earlier this summer. Aides said the President felt the matter was serious enough to address the nation in the evening — and to ask the television networks to interrupt their regular programming (though the broadcast networks declined to air the President’s remarks).
White House officials have said they want to be selective about when and where to address the issues surrounding the erosion of democracy, even as many party activists have called for more focus on the issue. The issue itself is one that consumes much of Biden’s thinking, those close to him say — something that can leak into the public sphere during the rare moments he actually engages with reporters.
But choosing the right time to address them on a large national scale, Biden’s team believes, will prevent the issue from becoming routine for voters. Biden, officials note, had no qualms about that strategy.
The “semi-fascism” comment is causing outrage, but the White House won’t back down
Biden’s recent aggressive rhetoric has prompted howls of protest from Republicans. When he accused Trump supporters of “semi-fascism” at a fundraiser last week, the response was swift. “Terribly offensive,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has not aligned himself with Trump. “He’s trying to stir up controversy, he’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election, it’s just — it’s horribly inappropriate.” At least one Democrat in a tight re-election race also distanced herself from Biden’s remark. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said Biden “painted with too broad a brush” when he made the comment. While officials describe Biden’s message as urgent, it remains to be seen whether voters facing high prices and an uncertain economy will heed his warnings about the state of democracy. However, recent polls have shown concerns about the rise of democracy among voters. An NBC poll conducted in August found that “threats to democracy” rose to the No. 1 issue facing the country, surpassing “cost of living.” And a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 67 percent of respondents believe the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapsing, up 9 points from January. Unplanned — but not entirely unwelcome — for the White House were the ongoing developments surrounding Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a matter the White House has officially kept at arm’s length to avoid the appearance of politicization. But reminding voters of the chaos that has surrounded Trump’s presidency has been particularly palatable to some Democrats, who see it as a stark contrast to Biden’s way of doing business. “It’s like the chaos was kept in memory because of the 50 million other things going on,” said a Democratic official with close ties to the White House. Biden “will never go it alone for Trump — he sees it as much bigger than that and probably, to some extent, beneath him,” the official said. “But I think most people in our party appreciate the very clear opposition now that it’s back in the headlines.” This story was updated with additional developments Thursday. CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Jeff Zeleny…
