Lhe unifying speeches, the outstretched hand to the opposition, is a thing of the past: Joe Biden, who wants to try to save his precarious control of Congress during the elections this fall, is now unleashing his blows against the “extreme” right acquired in the ideas of his predecessor Donald Trump.
Summoned for a speech on the economy, the journalists expected to hear the Democratic president deliver his usual message, deliberately optimistic, on flourishing employment, strong growth and the fight against inflation.
The Democrat surprised by launching an attack, unusual, against the projects of the Republicans and more particularly against what he called the “movement +MAGA+”.
Through this acronym, which he hammered on Wednesday, Joe Biden is obviously targeting former President Donald Trump and his slogan “Make America Great Again” (make America great again).
The president had started his mandate with the desire to turn the Trump page, advocating the rally and assuming to be “boring” with his major economic and social projects – many of which have been shelved for lack of a sufficient parliamentary majority.
Trump as a scarecrow
A few months before the mid-term legislative elections, historically lost by the president’s party, Joe Biden, very unpopular, has completely changed course.
It is no longer a question of making people forget Donald Trump, but on the contrary of waving him – without mentioning his name directly – like a scarecrow in order to revive the Democratic electorate and to dramatize the stakes of this election.
Joe Biden on Wednesday criticized an economic program recently unveiled by Republican Senator Rick Scott. “It’s extreme, like most things related to the MAGA movement,” he said, blaming the opposition for wanting to tax the middle class harshly.
“This MAGA movement is really the most extreme political organization in American history, in recent American history”, then dropped Joe Biden, questioned on the right to abortion.
According to an internal document revealed by Politico, the American Supreme Court is preparing to blast the constitutional right to abortion that has existed since 1973, leaving the field open to the many conservative states that want to ban abortion.
It would be an undeniable political victory for supporters of Donald Trump, who gave the Supreme Court its current resolutely conservative dimension.
Joe Biden, although a devout Catholic, has taken on the mantle of the first defender of the right to abortion without hesitation, investing in a field that he had not hitherto frequented much: that of “culture wars”.
These “culture wars” are the many societal debates that have agitated America for decades, but which have escalated in recent years to the point of dividing the country into two irreconcilable camps opposing the right to abortion. , gender, sexuality, parenting, religion, firearms, racial issues and reading about the country’s history — especially when it comes to slavery and segregation .
“Culture wars”
The Democratic president and his party assure that the Republicans will not stop at abortion. “They’re going to try to take us back to a time when women, people of color, LGBTQ people were second-class citizens,” said Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
“What will happen if a state says that LGBTQ+ children can no longer go to the same classrooms as other children?” Asked Joe Biden on Wednesday.
The conservative website The Federalist, slamming the president’s remarks, accused the Democrats of spreading unfounded “dystopian prophecies”.
It remains to be seen to what extent Donald Trump will weigh on the Republican campaign for the midterm elections.
A newcomer Tuesday from Ohio – an industrial state in the Midwest where Joe Biden is also going on Friday – has in any case confirmed his persistent influence on the party.
It is his foal, JD Vance, who won the disputed Republican primary in this state and who will face the current Democratic senator from Ohio.
“I absolutely must thank the 45th President of the United States,” said Tuesday the candidate, who in the past had violently criticized the Republican billionaire, before pledging allegiance to him.
“A lot of journalists (…) wanted to write an article saying that it would be the death of Donald Trump’s program for America first! Ladies and gentlemen, (this program) is not dead!”, a- he assured.
04/05/2022 21:53:24 – Washington (AFP) – © 2022 AFP