E-Paper
Trump slams Biden as worst president ever, reiterates MAGA slogan
The Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination accused Biden of corruption, presiding over illegal immigration and lawlessness, humiliating America on the world stage and economic mismanagement
Washington: In a fierce attack on Joe Biden after the American president announced his intent to seek a second term in 2024, former president Donald Trump unleashed a no-holds barred attack on Biden, calling him worse than the five worst presidents in American history put together.
The Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination used characteristically extreme language to accuse Biden of corruption, presiding over illegal immigration and lawlessness, humiliating America on the world stage, economic mismanagement, and ruining the military with “wokeness”. He also predicted a third world war under Biden’s watch, a scenario only a Trump presidency could prevent.
Trump faces a crowded Republican field but has surged ahead in polls in recent weeks. A Wall Street Journal poll, published last week, gave Trump a 13 percentage point lead over his closest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, among Republican primary voters. Two Indian-American candidates — former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy — are in the fray too, besides former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. DeSantis hasn’t announced his intent to run yet but is expected to do so soon, as are South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former vice-president Mike Pence.
Soon after Biden released his announcement video, Trump said in a statement, “You could take the five worst presidents in American history, and put them together, and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done to our Nation in just a few short years. Not even close.”
On the economy, Trump alleged Biden’s “socialist spending calamity” had decimated American families with the “worst inflation in half a century”. Rising prices are seen as Biden’s biggest potential weakness in the contest. Trump also accused the president of presiding over failing banks and a crashing currency. “The dollar will soon no longer be the world standard, which will be our greatest defeat in over 200 years.” Trump claimed that wages had fallen for 24 months, and Biden had surrendered America’s energy independence.
Trump then shifted focus to illegal immigration, which had been a defining theme of his 2016 campaign with the promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico. On Tuesday, he alleged that under Biden, “the Southern Border” had been abolished. “Millions of illegal aliens have been released into our communities…They are coming in from mental institutions and prisons…many of these people are very dangerous…we are like a dumping ground,” Trump said in language that seeks to tap into deep nativist sentiments and plays on fears about the other.
Turning to Republican critique of Democratic record on law enforcement, Trump said that American cities had been overrun by “homelessness, drug addicts, and violent criminals” who, in turn, had been released from jail “with no retribution”. He accused Biden of weaponising law enforcement against Republicans and “law-abiding conservatives”.
Echoing other candidates in the Republican field, including DeSantis who has positioned himself as the “anti-Woke” candidate, Trump said that American children were being “indoctrinated and mutilated by left-wing freaks and zealots”. “The senior ranks of our military have gone completely woke, and our military is suffering greatly.”
On foreign policy, Trump accused Biden of humiliating the nation on the world stage with his surrender in Afghanistan, calling it “perhaps the most embarrassing event in the history of our country”. Biden’s popularity ratings had dropped after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban capture of Kabul in August 2021.
Trump then said that Russia had “teamed up” with China, Iran was days away from a nuclear bomb and Ukraine was devastated by an invasion, which, the former president claimed, would never have happened if he was in charge. “Joe Biden has led us to the very brink of World War III. They say Trump was right about everything. Well, I’m not predicting World War III, but I will say this: we’re very close and they’re only talking about nuclear weapons.”
Trump also accused Biden of being the most corrupt president ever, and said it was “unthinkable” that he was running again. Going back to his claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” — a claim that has been proven false repeatedly and failed to pass any judicial or constitutional test — Trump said his administration’s record was one of greatness, while Biden’s was one of failure.
“We will defeat Joe Biden in 2024. We will rescue our economy. We will crush inflation. We will stop the invasion on our southern border. We will restore our Nation’s dignity. And we will prevent World War III from happening. Together, we will all Make America Great Again!”, Trump said, reiterating a slogan that is his defining chant, but a chant that Biden now uses to depict Republican extremism.
