Georgia Rally: Biden and Trump gear up for potential 2024 rematch

• Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden held campaign rallies in Georgia, focusing on their general election showdown.
• Trump criticized Biden’s State of the Union speech as an “angry, dark, and hate-filled rant.”
• Biden unveiled new endorsements, aiming to secure their respective party nominations.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden have held campaign rallies in the US state of Georgia, as their general election showdown becomes more focused. The former president, aged 77, criticized Thursday’s State of the Union speech as an “angry, dark, and hate-filled rant”.

An hour later, President Biden, aged 81, unveiled new endorsements as he went on the offensive against his rival. Both men are now within striking distance of securing their respective party nominations for president.

Mr. Trump has amassed 1,076 delegates and is 139 away from securing the number needed to lock in the Republican nomination. Mr. Biden has collected 1,859 delegates, falling 109 short of the required number to secure the Democratic ticket.

Each man has the opportunity to complete the task in primary contests on Tuesday, including in Georgia.

Their shadow-boxing duel on Saturday follows two days after Mr. Biden rebuked his predecessor’s rhetoric and record in harsh terms during his State of the Union address to Congress.

In the north-western city of Rome, Mr. Trump criticized his “grossly incompetent” opponent for delivering “the most divisive, partisan, and radical speech ever delivered by a president in that chamber.”

“Joe Biden should not be shouting angrily at America,” he argued.

“America should be shouting angrily at Joe Biden.”

He also focused on border security and addressed the murder last month of Laken Riley, a Georgia college student allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant.

According to a Gallup poll released last month, immigration is now the top concern for US voters.

With supporters holding aloft photos of Ms. Riley, and her family and friends in attendance, the former president vowed to “demand justice for Laken” and “seal the border”.

He also criticized Mr. Biden for retracting comments made during the State of the Union, where he referred to the suspect as “an illegal”. The president expressed regret in an MSNBC interview for not using Democrats’ preferred term – undocumented.

Mr. Biden’s controversial remark occurred during an exchange with top Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, who rallied with Mr. Trump on Saturday in Rome, the city she lives in and represents in Congress.

Speaking about an hour’s drive away in the capital city of Atlanta, Mr Biden told supporters: “It can tell you a lot about a person, who he keeps company with.”

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