BY NBC NEWS
PHILADELPHIA — Beginning the election year with a focus firmly on what he perceives to be Donald Trump’s danger to democracy, President Joe Biden is returning to his “home base,” which, according to advisors, underscores the seriousness with which his campaign views the need to take on his potential general election opponent.
At just his third public campaign event since declaring his candidacy for reelection in April, Biden will make his first speech of the year on Friday in the vicinity of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the site of the hard winter that George Washington and the Continental Army faced while fighting for American independence.
According to a senior aide, Biden intends to refer to the ongoing struggle for democracy as a “sacred cause,” echoing President Washington’s remarks about the sacrifices being made by Colonial warriors. The address is meant to commemorate the assault on the US Capitol building that happened three years ago on January 6. According to the advisor, Biden will urge Americans to stand with him in opposing political violence and assaults on basic liberties.
“The next national election becomes a point when the people of that country give a judgment on it when significant events occur in this country’s history. We think that [Jan. 6] of 2024 will be that time,” the advisor said. The advisor was given permission to remain anonymous in order to preview Biden’s words. On January 6, Trump attempted to take advantage of the flaws in American democracy. Biden seen a democracy that held and recognized true strength.
With a primary emphasis on Trump, Biden presented the 2020 contest as a fight for the “soul of the nation.” However, Democrats are growingly concerned that he is wasting too much time attempting to make a poor economic case rather than concentrating on Trump and his effort to rig the 2020 election, since he has fallen behind Trump in surveys leading up to 2024.
Invoking Washington, Biden will do so for his example as well as his leadership at Valley Forge. The advisor pointed out that in order to preserve America’s young democracy, Washington willingly gave up his military commission before becoming president and decided against running for a third term.
“You don’t take any action to maintain your position of authority. Furthermore, the advisor said that the people have authority in America.
The speech, according to Biden’s advisors, is an “opening salvo” for 2024, and his emphasis on Trump is “a sharpening, not a shift,” in approach after months of previous public engagements and sponsored advertising that were mostly concerned with economic themes.
Although close associates of Biden have recommended that he regularly include a tougher stance against Trump in his public message, the campaign is of the opinion that strong anti-Trump messaging at this early stage of the race would likely turn off swing voters.
But Friday’s address, which commemorates the anniversary of the day a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as senators were working on the last procedural step to formally declare Biden victorious, is the type of moment the campaign seems to be storing its fury for.
Quentin Fulks, the deputy campaign manager, said on MSNBC on Wednesday that “our campaign believes that it is a moral obligation that we paint the picture of the threat that Donald Trump and the Republican Party pose to America.”
The timing of Biden’s address is also influenced by Trump’s commanding lead in the Republican primary, according to Biden campaign aides, since the first nominating contest is only a few days away. According to a second Biden advisor, more people are paying attention to the election right now; therefore, the president could revisit a message from his launch video from April that used pictures from the assault on January 6.
The senior advisor acknowledged that Biden was under fire for two significant speeches he gave before the 2022 midterm elections about political violence and democracy, but he added that the outcome showed that it can be a motivating topic. Additionally, some campaign executives have said that if and when Trump is nominated, Republican-leaning voters—including those who supported Trump four years ago—are willing to cast ballots for Biden this year.
The president “fundamentally believes that the vast majority of Americans do still believe that the sacred cause of this country is democracy,” according to the second Biden aide. This belief holds true regardless of party identification in general.
