President Joe Biden made a confession this Tuesday. He admitted that his re-election campaign was driven in part by Donald Trump’s decision to try again for president and therefore he has to make an effort to block his predecessor from returning to the White House. He considers it “an existential threat to American democracy.”
“If Trump wasn’t campaigning, I’m not sure I would have run,” he confessed. And he added: “We can’t let him win.”
Biden is facing criticism from within his party, including Minnesota Democratic legislator Dean Phillips, who is trying to mount a last-minute alternative for the primaries, because they think he should take a step back having turned 81 and make way for younger candidates.
But the president has chosen to seek re-election under the conviction, his own and that of many analysts, that he is the only one of the Democrats who can beat Trump, 77, as he already did in the 2020 elections, despite that the Republican continues without publicly acknowledging his defeat and using the theory of theft to attack the stability of the country.
This statement was made by Biden during one of the three stops at campaign events that he held in Boston to raise funds, where, in addition, he launched several attacks towards his foreseeable rival at the polls next November. It so happens that the majority of Americans, according to polls, do not like a repetition of the confrontation of the previous presidential elections.
At the first of the receptions in the Massachusetts capital, Biden referred to his predecessor as “the election denier in chief.” He then claimed that “Trump and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans are hell-bent on destroying American democracy.”
“He is telling us what he will do, he is not beating around the bush,” he insisted regarding Trump’s announcements that he is willing to end many democratic guarantees and take revenge on all those who have dared to criticize him. “He is no longer hiding,” Biden reiterated, alluding to the anti-democratic instincts of the conservative contender.
In another event he limited himself to describing Trump as “the defeated former president.” And he got a few laughs with his new comment. “He didn’t even show up at my inauguration. “I can’t say it was a disappointment,” he said. “I guess he won’t appear in the next one,” he added.
Trump still has to face the primary period. However, he leads the polls by a huge margin. But never-Trumpers and moderate Republicans are still confident that Nikki Haley can be an alternative and make a splash. At this time, in addition, some polls show Trump as the winner in key states in case he repeats the fight with Biden.
Analysts consider that the president has more than enough time to come back, especially because despite the drop in popularity, Democratic voters can unify their vote in the face of the threat of Trump, as already happened in 2020.
Biden’s team should not have been surprised by the admission that he would consider not being a candidate if Trump were not there, precisely because they agree on the issue that he is the only one who can defeat what they see as the great threat against the democratic system.
Biden gained fame in the 2020 campaign when he described himself as a bridge candidate to the new generation of leaders. He initially refused to commit to serving a second term. But given the evolution, with an increasingly autocratic Trump, he considers that his work is not over yet.