Trump, allies threaten democracy, says Joe Biden at Independence Hall

President Joe Biden warned that equality and democracy are under assault in the US as he sounded an alarm about his predecessor, Donald Trump, and MAGA Republican adherents, labelling them an extremist threat to the nation and its future.

Aiming to reframe the November elections as part of a battle for the nation's soul the work of my presidency," Biden used his Thursday night prime-time speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia to argue that Trump and Make America Great Again allies are a challenge to nation's system of government, its standing abroad and its citizens' way of life.

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic," Biden declared. He said they are determined to take this country backward' they promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence.

The explicit effort by Biden to marginalise Trump and his adherents marks a sharp turn for the president, who preached his desire to bring about national unity in his Inaugural address. White House officials said it reflects his mounting concern about Trump allies' ideological proposals and relentless denial of the nation's 2020 election results.

MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, Biden is saying, according to prepared remarks released by the White House. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.

For a long time, we've reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not, Biden says. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us.

Biden, who largely avoided even referring to the former guy by name during his first year in office, has grown increasingly vocal in calling out Trump personally. Now, emboldened by his party's recent legislative wins and wary of Trump's return to the headlines, Biden is sharpening his attacks.

Trump plans a rally this weekend in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden's birthplace.

At a Democratic fundraiser last week, Biden likened the MAGA philosophy to semi-fascism.

In Philadelphia, White House officials said, Biden intended to hark back to the 2017 white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, which he says brought him out of political retirement to challenge Trump. Biden argues that the country faces a similar crossroads in the coming months.

Biden allies stress that he is not rejecting the entirety of the GOP and is calling on traditional Republicans to join him in condemning Trump and his followers. It's a balancing act, given that more than 74 million people voted for Trump in 2020.

I respect conservative Republicans, Biden said last week. I don't respect these MAGA Republicans.

Delivering a preemptive rebuttal from Scranton Thursday evening, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy accused Biden of trying to divide Americans, and blasted the Democrats' record in Washington, pointing to rising inflation, crime and government spending.

In the past two years, Joe Biden has launched an assault on the soul of America, on its people, on its laws, on its most sacred values," he said. "He has launched an assault on our democracy. His policies have severely wounded America's soul, diminished America's spirit and betrayed America's trust.

Asked about McCarthy's criticism, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said we understand we hit a nerve with the GOP leader, and quoted the Republican's prior statements saying Trump bore responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Even this week, Trump was posting on his beleaguered social media platform about overturning the 2020 election results and holding a new presidential election, which would violate the Constitution.

The White House has tried to keep Biden removed from the legal and political maelstrom surrounding the Department of Justice's discovery of classified documents in Trump's Florida home. Still, Biden has taken advantage of some Republicans' quick condemnation of federal law enforcement.

You can't be pro-law enforcement and pro-insurrection, Biden said Tuesday in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Biden's appearance Thursday night was promoted as an official, taxpayer-funded event, a mark of how the president views defeating the Trump agenda as much as a policy aim as a political one. The major broadcast television networks were not expected to carry the address live.

Biden's trip to Philadelphia is just one of his three to the state within a week, a sign of Pennsylvania's importance in the midterms, with competitive Senate and governor's races. However, neither Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democrats' Senate nominee, nor Attorney General Josh Shapiro, their pick for governor, was expected to attend Thursday night.

The White House intended the speech to unite familiar themes: holding out bipartisan legislative wins on guns and infrastructure as evidence that democracies can deliver, pushing back on GOP policies on guns and abortion that Biden says are out of step with most people's views, and rejecting efforts to undermine confidence in the nation's election or diminish its standing abroad.

The challenges have only increased since the tumult surrounding the 2020 election and the Capitol attack.