Joe Biden takes off gloves in Trump election battle

Joe Biden has warned Americans that the former president poses a threat to ‘our democracy’.

Joe Biden answers questions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, en route to Washington. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden has taken off the gloves in his 2024 election fight, directly confronting Donald Trump as a threat to democracy after months of shadow boxing.

The 81-year-old US President said Mr Trump had supported the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. His comment came after Colorado’s top court on Wednesday barred Mr Trump from appearing on the primary ballot in that state because of his role in the attack.

“I’ll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it, none, zero,” Mr Biden said in Milwaukee. “It’s self-evident. You saw it all.”

While Mr Biden took pains to stress the matter was up to the courts, it marked a rare occasion that he has directly commented on the multiple legal cases piling up against Mr Trump.

Mr Trump’s campaign has said it will appeal the Colorado ruling in the US Supreme Court.

It is the first of a number of legal actions across the country to successfully invoke the US constitution’s 14th amendment, which bars from office anyone sworn to protect the country who later engages in insurrection.

Neck-and-neck with Mr Trump in the polls and suffering from low approval ratings, Mr Biden’s comments signal a shift in campaign tactics.

He told a campaign reception on Tuesday near Washington that “the greatest threat Trump poses is to our democracy. Because if we lose, we lose everything.”

He described Mr Trump as “sitting there, watching it unfold on TV as a mob attacked the Capitol”.

“This is a former president who actually condones and encourages violence against his fellow Americans,” he said. “It’s despicable.”

Until recently, Mr Biden would only refer to Mr Trump as “the other guy” or make the sign of the cross when discussing him, as the veteran Democrat tried to focus on his own economic policies.

“He’s like Voldemort now: His name shall not be mentioned,” talk show host Conan O’Brien joked in a recent interview with Mr Biden, comparing Mr Trump to the unnameable villain from the Harry Potter novels.

Keen to avoid fuelling Mr Trump’s claims of a political witch hunt, Mr Biden also steadfastly avoided talking about the multiple criminal cases against the former president and reality TV star.

The result was that Mr Trump could land his punches undefended: relentlessly mocking Mr Biden’s age (even though he’s only four years younger) and mental capacity, and falsely accusing Mr Biden of running a crime family.

But as Mr Trump edges ahead in the polls and Democrats call for Mr Biden to land some punches, the incumbent has in recent weeks taken a notably more confrontational approach.

Mr Biden last week pounced when Mr Trump said he would be a “dictator” on his first day if re-elected, and he has accused him of echoing the language of Nazi Germany when speaking about migrants.

In Milwaukee on Thursday, the President went off subject to lambast Mr Trump as “the guy who thinks we’re polluting the blood of America” with migration.

Aides say the plan until now had been to focus on Mr Biden’s achievements – including a growing economy and low unemployment – and not get drawn into fights that might favour Mr Trump with less than a year to go until election day.

But worries have grown in the White House as Mr Biden’s poll numbers have slumped. The Washington Post reported this week that Mr Biden had “stern words” for top aides about his “unacceptably low” polling as his economic message fell flat.

Mr Biden has also been under pressure to hit back at Republicans who have just opened an impeachment inquiry into whether he profited from his son Hunter’s business dealings.

AFP